Two of a kind Authors bring Nevada to life through kids’ books
by Dennis Myers
I
t’s anyone’s guess why, but Nevada has been blessed by a number of children’s book writers. Here we introduce you to two. Ann Herbert Scott, born in Philadelphia in 1926, ended up in Reno with her physicist husband William, who taught at the University of Nevada, Reno. Between those two points, she had a full life of experiences, including working with children at the Elm Haven Housing Project near Yale. Reading to the children, she was often impatient with the books available. Many children had difficulty relating to either the words or the art. She found herself wishing for time to write stories that spoke more directly to the children and featured illustrations that looked like the children who read them. These were the days of Doctor Dan the Band-Aid Man and Nurse Nancy, children’s titles that reinforced the status quo. Scott ended up with the time she craved after marriage. By then, she had a third benchmark to guide her. There had been a child to whom she read named Frankie Brookshire, animated and active as any four-year-old and often bored by the books Scott read. She set herself the goal of writing books for that child. Her first title was the generic Big Cowboy Western. Once it was written, she experienced the first of several pieces of serendipity in the course of her writing career. She met children’s author Marguerita Rudolph (The Good Stepmother, Look at Me). She mentioned her writing to Rudolph, who then read Big Cowboy Western in manuscript and promptly sent it to an editor. Within days, Scott had a contract. The book, illustrated by Richard W. Lewis, was published in 1965. It hit at a perfect time. Society was in tumult, and publishers were scrambling to address calls for wider views of culture. The title may have been generic, but a children’s story about a child of color in a cowboy outfit was the kind of thing they were seeking. It began a long line of books, many with Nevada settings—Sam, Cowboy Country, How the Rabbits Found Christmas, On Mother’s Lap. Scott’s books were aided by the talents of artists like Ronald Himler, Glo Coalson, Ted Lewin and Meg Kelleher Aubrey. And Scott, in turn, helped another writer—Teddy Swecker nee Martin—become a children’s book writer, too. “She’s a reason, too, that this all happened to me,” Swecker said of Scott. During a year in Reno—the Sweckers have spent most of the rest of their adult lives in Winnemucca—in the 1980s, Swecker joined a critique group that met regularly. “And they literally taught me how to work for children,” she said. Scott was one of the members of the group. From about the time she became capable of holding a brush, Theodocia—that’s the first name she writes under—Swecker was into art. She was born in Reno in 1950. Swecker is very gifted. UNR professor Howard Rosenberg calls her a great teacher. She has illustrated two books of her own and several for other
writers, including Reno’s Virginia Castleman (Mommi Watta: Spirit of the River). Sweckers own books have been major investments of time. One of them took her 26 years, the other 10. Like Scott, Swecker learned that some things come about by sticking with projects so she is in the right place at the right time. Her book Ducks Ducks was originally self-published. It is an indicator of her confidence in the book that she ordered a whopping 5,000-copy printing of it. And it sold out.
Society was in tumult, and publishers were scrambling to address calls for wider views of culture. One day she received a phone call from Christine Kelly at Reno’s Sundance Bookstore, which has a book publishing arm, Baobab Press. Kelly was seeking more copies of Ducks Ducks. Swecker had to tell her all copies were gone and as they conversed and Kelly realized what Swecker had accomplished on her own, she thought the book might make a nice addition to Baobab’s list of titles. So Ducks Ducks came back into print. “I like to remind children that they can make their dreams come true,” Swecker said. “My dream came true. People think that you have an idea—that it’s hard to make that idea into reality. A lot of times it is just not giving up.” Ducks Ducks was inspired by one of her children who, in toddlerhood, kept wanting to sleep with her parents and crowded Teddy into the children’s bedroom. Ten years later, it was published as a tale of Pekin Ducks in Winnemucca who, because of their heft, do not fly to warmer climes in winter. One group of Pekins, craving warmth, dog the steps of a mountain lion hoping to pack themselves around him. He wants nothing to do with them and keeps seeking different places to sleep. They keep following him and finally he accepts their presence and sleeps well because he has warm ducks packed all around him. Swecker’s paintings of these scenes show lions and ducks enjoying inexpressible contentment. “The lion doesn’t like ducks, and normally ducks don’t like lions,” Swecker says. “But they have this one thing that teaches them that they have the capacity for friendship.” It helps that the ducks, like the writer, never give up. “It’s not easy,” Swecker said. “It took me 10 years to get it right, get the illustrations just as I wanted them.” Ω
02.23.17
RN&R Family Guide
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