Gome World

More gems from High Lakes Elementary

I was delighted to receive a new batch of drawings and paintings from the TAG students in Kim Storey's class at High Lakes Eelementary school in Bend, Oregon.  Some of the pictures are incredibly vivid and imaginative.  They not only show characters and scenes from The Rusty Pelican  but they capture the mood of the story very well. 

Here is a drawing of the Rusty Pelican barge.  Although it does not show too much detail the drawing certainly conveys the evil dark sinister feel of the place.

Here are some other pictures showing scenes from the story:

     

There were several more great pictures of Wullie-The-Mahaar-Gome:

   

   

There are some others that I really like (including a new color picture of a drooling Stinky-The-Bog-Murtle and a new diagram of Finn and Hadley's note pulley system).  I have posted those pictures in other parts of the web log.  See if you can find them.

High Desert Middle School ROCKS!

I am so grateful to the wonderful kids and staff at High Desert Middle School in Bend Oregon for letting me spend two incredible days talking to them about writing, hanging out, answering questions, and taking suggestions for things that I ought to consider for future stories.

 A very special thanks to Jo Ann Enyart-Grant, the Media Manager, for hosting me in the awesome library and media center.  The kids were all incredibly well behaved and asked really smart questions.  Several people liked the character of Stinky-The-Bog-Myrtle and were disappointed that she did not appear more in the story.  I will definitely bring her back in an extended role in a future story.  Many, many students thought that it was disgusting that Wullie smokes dried cow poop (or "cowdie" as he likes to call it) in his little pipe or that a dog urinates on the bad guys' car fender in the opening chapter of The Rusty Pelican!  There were several great comments about the story. Quite a few kids commented that the opening scene was dramatic and exciting but kind of confusing because it was hard to know who the Dark Watcher was or what he and the whining Dutchmen were doing looking up at Finn's bedroom on a dark night in Magnolia in Seattle.  We had a good discussion about why it is good in a mystery story to start with a lot of drama and puzzling clues but leave the reader not quite sure what is going on exactly.

 

Some of the students liked the odd names for the characters (like the mean, snooty "popular" girl being called Tiffany Kistlebutt, or Hadley's wacky mother being called Riversong).  Someone wondered why there aren't more "female gomes" and thought it would be fun if there was a crotchety old female gome in the story who had a crush on Wullie!  It is hard to believe anyone having a crush on a scruffy, rude, bad-tempered old grump who smokes cow dung and is impatient all the time but I will need to give that some thought for a future story...

Thank you so much for giving me new ideas for stories and for letting me share my books with you.  I am honored that some of you wanted me to sign your books.  See if you can see yourself here:

   

Thanks again to Principal Gary DeFrang, Vice Principal Marshall Jackson, psychologist Erich Brocker and the awesome teachers including John Burton, Johanna Myers and Jennifer Lashley.  You all made me feel very much at home and welcomed me into your incredible school.  I do hope that you will let me return to High Desert Middle School next year when I should have the next trilogy in the series published.  I would be honored to donate more books to your school library and to students interested in reading more of the adventures of Finnley, Hadley, Wullie, Big Sandy and other characters both familiar and new.  I have lots more adventures planned and will incorporate some of your suggestions into future stories.  Thank you for inspiring me to write more.

Yeah to Ms. Storey's class at High Lakes in Bend!

I can't tell you how impressed I was to meet the Talented and Gifted (TAG) kids in Ms. Storey's class at High Lakes Elementary School last Wednesday (Nov 12th, 2008). I didn't expect that kids as young as third grade would enjoy The Rusty Pelican.  I am honored that you did.  You asked very perceptive questions and gave me several suggestions for new characters and new stories.  The pictures that you drew were really imaginative and well drawn.  I can only put a few of them here but I will add others to some of the other weblog postings that I have since your art work makes great illustrations for other chapters of the story.  A lot of Ms. Storey's class were amused by the idea that a dog would lift its leg and urinate on the car bumper while the Dark Watcher and the Dutchmen were waiting outside Finn's bedroom window.   Check these out!

   

   

Many other students did great pictures of what Wullie looks like in his petrified form and his "alive" form.  I will show a few of them here and then put others into another blog posting about Wullie:

   

 

There were also some terrific action shots of Wullie diving off the tops of bookcases onto piles of dirty laundry on the floor of Finn's room (and there are always lots of those in Finn's room!).  There is also a great picture of Wullie bouncing on Hadley's bed and several great pictures of Stinky-The-Bog-Murtle.  Here are some of the best.  I will feature others in other postings so poke around on the blog to see if you can see your picture anywhere.

   

 

Thanks again to all of you for the terrific artwork.  Your pictures really bring the story to life.  I will post as many more of the pictures as I can in other parts of the blog.  If you read on in the story and feel inspired to send me more pictures then you can send them to my regular Post Office box in Seattle:  Gome World, P.O. Box 99327, Seattle, WA 98139-0327