Miss Callie Preston and her third grade students at Sciotoville Community School receiving their copies of Fiona the Hippo
SCIOTO COUNTY- As part of the Books Build Bridges Literacy Program, over 800 hardback copies of Fiona the Hippo were delivered to third graders throughout Scioto County. Books were delivered to students attending Bloom-Vernon, Clay, Green, Minford, New Boston, Northwest, Notre Dame, Portsmouth, East Portsmouth Elementary, Sciotoville Community Schools, Portsmouth STEM Academy, Valley, Portsmouth West, and Wheelersburg.
The Books Build Bridges Program is also providing an opportunity for the students to meet the illustrator of Fiona the Hippo, Richard Cowdrey. Cowdrey is a New York Times bestselling author, illustrator, fine artist, speaker and educator.
“Fiona, the famous hippo from the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, was not expected to live,” Cowdrey’s website explained. “She was born prematurely, at only 29 pounds. But her inspiring story of spunk and determination captured hearts around the world. Fiona the Hippo, by New York Times bestselling artist Richard Cowdrey (Bad Dog, Marley) tells the story of smart, sassy, and fearless Fiona. Readers will cheer on Fiona as she defeats the odds and becomes a happy, healthy hippopotamus.”
More information on Cowdrey and his published stories may be found online at www.richardcowdrey.com.
Students will meet with Cowdrey at Shawnee State University where he will lead them in a drawing session. Each student who attends the drawing session will receive their own art kit, which is also being provided through the Books Build Bridges Program.
“I love the fact that we are tying visual art and literature together this year. Richard is a very talented illustrator and his illustrations often tell a story of their own,” Gifted Services Coordinator at the South Central Ohio ESC and Books Build Bridges Committee Member Sharee Price said. “Children are drawn to this type of book because it helps them understand deeper meanings in the story they’re reading. As I was delivering books to students at the various schools, the first thing that drew their attention was the illustration of Fiona on the cover of the book. Illustrations often make stories more relatable for the reader.”
When Cowdrey meets with Shawnee State University art and illustration students, we will be discussing his career as a freelance illustrator.
He will also be at the Scioto County Public Library’s Portsmouth location for a meet and greet at 5:30 p.m. on April 18.
The meet and greet will be free and open to the public. Additionally, some of the Fiona series books will be available for purchase and Cowdrey will be on hand to discuss his career and to sign books for anyone who is interested.
“The Scioto County Public Library is excited to be a partner in the Books Build Bridges project which encourages a love of books and reading for the children of Scioto County,” Scioto County Public Library Director Paige Williams said. “The Library supports life-long learning for the community and reading is the basic building block in developing a love for learning.”
Books Build Bridges is a biennial literacy program intended to put books in the hands of Scioto County children and provide programming to enrich their understanding of the chosen book. An ad-hoc committee made up of representatives from the Portsmouth Rotary Club, the Scioto County Public Library, Shawnee State University’s Clark Memorial Library, and the South Central Ohio Educational Service Center work together to secure funding for the books and related programming. Since its inception in 2017, the program has also provided books to 5th grade, 8th grade, and 10th grade students throughout the county.
Books Build Bridges Committee member, Tess Midkiff, has been a long-time member of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth and explained “Rotary of Portsmouth has a long standing commitment to literacy having distributed dictionaries to 6th graders annually for many years. Books Build Bridges allows Rotary to partner with other groups to reach more students and promote a love of reading at different grade levels.”
Reach Joseph Pratt at (740) 353-3101, by email at [email protected], © 2024 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved.
