The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

PAGE 2, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21,1977, WHITBY FREE PRESS Magic of childhood inspires her book illustrations By BRIAN WINTER Staff Writer The magic and mystery of childhood has fascinated Carol Gabourie Cooper for many years. "There is a child in all of us,"she says,and Mrs. Cooper translates ber interest in childhood into illustrations for children's books. An accomplished artist who has just compiete eo a one-woman show at a local gallery, and a member of Whitby Arts Incorporated since its founding 10 years ago, Mrs. Cooper bas worked in many forns )f art and studied under many instruc- tors. But her greatest interest is illustrating and writing children's books. Her first venture into the world of juvenile literature was a small book called Piggies' Hallowe'en, which was written by her mother, Florence E. Gabourie in 1969. Mrs. Cooper illustrated this book, and has gone on to writing as well as illustrating ber own books. Piggies' Hallowe'en was submitted to a publisher, who included it in his "language patterns" reading program for Grade 2 level. It was part of a series of books for educational purposes and was placed on the approved read- ing list of the Ontario Mini- stry of Education. The book was sent to England, the United States and Australia as an example of the publisher's educational reading series, but Mrs. Cooper is disappointed that it had a limited distribution through the educational system only. It did not get into the book stores and her friends had to write to the publisher to get a copy. Piggies' Hallowe'en is writ- ten in verse, which Mrs. Cooper feels is more appeal- ing to children than prose. "Many librarians say child- ren love verse, but editors are not that interested," she says. "Adults renember the rhymes from their childhood. It makes a story a little bit specail to have it in verse." In 1971, Mrs. Cooper and her mother collaborated on a sequeltoPiggies'Hallowe'en, 1>, called Piggies' Christmas,with Mrs. Cooper again doing the illustrating and ber mother the writing. They went to the same publisher, but he told them that his educational series for younger readers was finished and asked them to do some work for the 12 to 14 age group. "We wanted to stay with the younger age group so we are looking for another pub- lisher," says Mrs. Cooper. Piggies' Hallowe'en was done in color, although the original drawings were in black-and-white, and Piggies' Christnas bas eight black- and-white drawings and four color illustrations. Although she has been un- able to find a publisher in. terested in ber further work, Mrs. Cooper bas continued to turn out children's books, doing both the writing and illustrating herself. For the past six years she has been working on The Anti-Pollutes of Donber Creek, a story about re- cycling, with 36 full-color illustrations. Mrs. Cooper describes this project as a "wake-up story based on values and awareness of our surround- ings." It is about a family of toads who are made aware of pollution by atrip to the city, and then corne home to find their own pond is pol- luted. The story is in verse, and "highly exaggerated on pur. pose to make children and aduIts more aware of pol. lution says Mrs. Cooper. In conjunction with The Anti-Pollutes of Donber Creek,Mrs. Cooper developed an anti-pollution program for schools and sent it to the federal and provincial govern- ments. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment told her such a program could be put into schools in 1977-78, but Mrs. Cooper has heard nothing further from the ministry for a year. Continuing on the anti- pollution theme, Mrs. Cooper is planning further stories using the same characters, and with a friend Pat EMERRY DEMO DISCOUNT /7 Comet 4 Dr. 6 cyl., auto., p/s,w/w, road wheel, defogger et c. Lic. LMM 304 Retail $4636. "Sale" $3889.00 77 Cou gar 4 Dr. Il. T. vinyl roof, w sw radial tires,bumper protection group, electric defroster, r/c mirror, deluxe w/c, AM/lM radio, 8 cyl., auto, p/s, p/b. Lic. LYB 730 Retail $6251. "Sale" $4672.00 77 Cougar XR7, w/s/w tires, day night clock, electric de- frost, FM radio, XR7 decour group, appearance protection group, light group vinyl top, 8 cyl. auto, p/s, p/b, etc. Lic. LSA 718 Retail $7041. "Sale" $ 5531.00 683-5541 McQuade of Whitby she has designed a game with an anti- pollution theme. She currently has five games in the process of de- sign, including one featuring her next creation, Spi- delephantnouse. "Spidelephantmouse" is a fantasy story about two little children who leave their toys and clothes around the house and as a result, meet a creature called Spidelephant- mouse, which, naturally enough, is part spider, part elephant and part mouse. Mrs. Cooper says this is a story with a moral to clean up after yourself,but it is told in a fantasy way with bril- liantly-colored drawings. So far she has completed six drawings for this book and is still working on it. Drawing illustrations for children's books is not aquick; or easy job, for Mrs. Cooper has sometimes redone her drawings four times before she is satisfied with them. Mrs. Cooper's latest story will deal with another of her creations, Whitby Willie the Station Mouse,who appeared in 1973 as a character for Whitby Arts Christmas cards at an Art Mart. Willhe is a mouse who lives in a railway station that is converted into an art gallery. Mrs. Cooper has sold a number of the Willie Christ- mas cards and has painted pictures of hir on request for children's rooms. More than 200 children visited her solo show this month, and Mrs. Cooper has taken her illustrations to various schools in Whitby. Although her drawings are full of life and vivid imagry, she finds publishers reluctant to use them. "So many children'sbooks come from the United States and England," she says. "It's up to our publishers and distributors to get Canadian books more accessible to people. They are afraid to take a chance." Mrs. Cooper says that Canadian publishers are re- luctant to go into the trade market for children's books, but she feels that good pub- CRWITMAS NEW Cougar 2 Dr. H. T. Auto, 8 cyl., p/s, p/b, r/c mirror, styled steel wheels. Ser. No. 559 559 Retail $5488. "Clearance Price" $4804.00 77 Marquis Meteor 2 Dr. 1.T. Landau vinyl roof, 400 engine w/w tires, factory air, tinted glass, r/c mirror, wire wheel covers, rocker moldings. Ser. No. 586 192 Retail $7353 "Clearance Price" $6402.00 77 Cougar XR7 351 engine, sports inst. group, w/sw tires, bumper protection group, elec. defroster, XR7 decour, appearance protection group, light group, cross country suspension, buckets & console Ser. No .548 037 Retail $7095. "Clearance Price" $6329.00 5840 Hwy No 2 ( Kingston Rd) TM 401 TO oURc si.N. licity and marketing distribu- years in Whitby, and bas sold tion would help the Canadian a num6èr of wbat one would book industry. call conventional paintings, It bothers her that there but in ber chosen field of are alnost no distinctively children's book illustrations, Canadian aartoon or story she bas met with only the book characters. The only limited success of Piggies' one she can tbink of is Elmer Hallowe'en. It is here thatber the Safety Elepbant. unique talent can best be S. Coo2r bas lived 22 seen. but she is finding dif chlrn' ok lutrtos ficulty in getting Canadian publishers to "take a chance" with her work. "We need more opportuni- ties for Canadians," she says, "There are many people with ideas, ' The artist and the. creator need to come together with those who are in pro- motion. AM .- 4,~~ - In this illustration from The Anti-Pollutes ot Donoer Creek, Fran Toad plods through a polluted mess in a dream where she finds her own riverbank destroyed by pollution.The story, written and illustrated by Carol Cooper of Whitby, is designed to make children more aware of pollution and the need for recycling. Free Press Photo Carol Gabourie Cooper holds one of her drawings of Whitby Willie the Station Mouse, a character she created for Whitby Arts Incorporated, and soon to be featured in one of )er forthcoming books for children. Mrs. Cooper has written and illustrated several children's books and is looking for a publisher for her work. Free Press Photo THE CORNERSTONE GIFT SHOP Wooden Toys 122 Brock St. N., Whitby Mon .Fri.10 -9Sat. 10- 6 Gifts f)r people iwho care Coroner wants inquest Coroner Dr. D. W. Conley wants an inquest into the death of a patient at the Whitby Psychiatric Hospital who died Dec. 1 of an ap- parent heart attack on the porch of one of the cottages. Dr. Conley says he is con- cerned that the patient was Zje lsian 1fielbe FOR THAT SPECIAL GIFT ANTIQUES CARDS ART POSTERS CRAFTS GIFT WRAP 214 BROCK STREET SOUTH, WHITBY 666-1841 forced outside into very cold weather by hospital staff, when he became belligerent and refused to calm down. The coroner claims that when the patient, Michael Grados, 46, refused to take medication to settle himn down after a fight with a- nother patient, the attendants sent him outside. Dr. Conley said he was concerned that the staff did not have the facilities in the in the cottage for cooling down belligerent,unco-opera- tive patients, and considers there was a lack of staff to deal with the situation. According to Dr. Conley there were only three female attendants on duty at the cottage, which housed 30 male and nine female patients. They had to call male atten- dants from another cottage for help, he said. Hospital Adiinistrator Michael O'Keefe says there is a facility in the cottage for sechision of anunruly patient, and three attendants per shift is normal for the hospital. Dr. Conley bas asked for ail inquest and hopes it will be held in January. 683-5540 I K INGTNR.LPUCERN àmmmzmýý %mur XV sont. jr