College of Education
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hildren’s story character Annie Mouse has an alter ego – her creator and author Anne Maro Slanina, Slippery Rock University associate professor of elementary education and early childhood. Slanina’s passion is the famed U.S. Route 66. So, Annie’s latest adventure takes her across America on the nostalgic roadway. Slanina, who joined the SRU faculty in 1998, has authored four previous “Annie Mouse” books. Her latest is “Annie Mouse’s Route 66 Adventure.” “My real passion is Route 66; it began with my first trip across country. I have driven it yearly since 2006 to visit my son, Michael and his family, in Arizona. I have just fallen in love with it,” she said. “The trip for Annie and her family was just a natural,” she said, adding she first started working on the book during her first trip. “The book is really a great way to open communication,” she said. Slanina, an expert in the social development of children, said her book also provides a valuable tie-in to classroom teaching for education majors.
From the Dean: Faculty in the College of Education engage in publication that includes the writing of educational curricula, scholarly articles and children’s literature. Professors present at national conferences, publish in their field and engage in research that informs their teaching. – Kathleen Strickland
Route 66 inspires ’Annie Mouse’ trip “I teach our students how to use picture books to guide young children’s emotional and social growth and development,” she said. The Route 66 book opens with Annie, the series’ principle character, arriving home on the last day of school to find the family car already packed. She initially thinks the Mouse Family is moving, but quickly learns that a family trip is planned instead. “This is the longest book I have written, at 48 pages, but it could have gone on for 2,000,” she said. The book takes the family to some of the famous, and not so famous, stops along the famed highway. Slanina took all of the color photographs in the book. David Keppel digitally added the animated characters to the photos. Slanina, who joined the SRU faculty in 1998, said all of the Mouse Family books are designed to provide parents, teachers and others both an enjoyable read for their children and the opportunity to talk about important family issues and values in a disarming way. Topics such as fears, make-believe, going to the hospital, making new friends and, in the latest offering, taking a family vacation are covered. The latest book is now on sale at Amazon.com and at numerous stores, restaurants and souvenir shops along the roadway. “There are even copies available at the souvenir shop in the Grand Canyon,” Slanina said.
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