MIDDLETOWN More than a dozen local children learned about six curious chickens and the strength of a group of worms during a reading and drawing event featuring an author from Savannah.
Providing crayons, pencils and piles of paper for the children, the Middletown Public Library held the event with Jose Lucio on Aug. 3.
Born and raised in Kansas, Lucio moved to Savannah, Georgia, in 2007 to attend the Savannah College of Art Design.
He published his first book “Heave Ho” in 2014. He illustrated a second and latest book “Free Rain,” which was written by his friend Daniel Wentzel.
Equipped with a whiteboard, markers and passionate voice, Lucio started the event by reading his first book “Heave Ho” to the children.
“‘Heave Ho’ starts out with the classic situation of the bird grabbing a worm to be its breakfast, but this worm has worm friends that join in to help out and it becomes a tug-of-war match. That’s where the title ‘Heave Ho’ comes in. Every time another worm joins in we all shout, ‘Heave Ho’ to encourage the worm’s teamwork. Although, the bird cries for help too and is joined by a cat and dog. Together the animals overpower the worms and it is up to the last worm to use brain over brawn and resolve the situation,” Lucio said.
Lucio then read “Free Rain” aloud.
“‘Free Rain’ is about a group of six chickens making the transition from life in a cage to roaming about the farm as free-range chickens. They are excited, confused, scared, and at times even a little grumpy, about their new situation, but must eventually band together and head out to see what this ‘free rain’ is all about. Each chicken is a different color and named accordingly,” Lucio said. “They each also have their own unique feelings about what is happening. Blue nervously starts the story, then Yellow takes the lead while Green and Purple offer support and wisdom. Orange and Red are not as happy about the idea of leaving the cages though and hold out for as long as they can stand.”
Once done reading both books, Lucio gave the children a drawing lesson where he showed them how to draw a bird and said, “I am going to teach you the secret on how to draw anything in the whole wide world.” That secret is to draw basic shapes, such as circles, squares and ovals, and keep adding more shapes to whatever you are drawing, he said.
“I’ve been drawing just about my whole life, probably since I was first able to hold a crayon. Early on I learned from my grandmother that drawing had a lot to do with observation. She pointed out that a person wasn’t just a potato shape with sticks coming out the sides, but yet had a head, torso and limbs. Something had clicked in that moment and I was hooked. Now I also teach art lessons at the Scribble Art Studio in Savannah where I work with the little ones all the way up to high school students,” Lucio said.
Teaching the children how to add accessories and unique features to their bird, Lucio walked around the room helping the group with their drawings.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
