When – did I write the story?

I have been painting for over 50 years and have amassed a wide selection of watercolour landscape paintings.  I wanted to find a way to use a portion of that collection to serve as a backdrop for a creative writing exercise. In today’s world, children seem to have lost their imagination, replacing it with video games and social media. I was committed to providing parents and grandparents with a distraction or craft that could be used instead, at home, for visits, or for rainy days – that was how the idea of the book was born.

The actual story evolved over a period of ten years, while I was in and out of hospital with health issues. I decided to write it from the bear’s point of view, as if the bear itself was viewing the landscapes featured in the paintings.  The paintings are a mixture of those written for the book, and from my collection. Combining them was a way of providing children with a variety of options to exercise their imagination in deciding what their unique story would be. Each student creates a time capsule, an individual story that can be cherished by the student and family for years to come. It can be as long or short as they wish. They can go back and change it as often as they desire.

Purpose Of The Book

The book is designed not only for children who like to read and write, but can also be used as a teaching tool, either for homeschooling, or in the regular classroom (See Lesson Planning ideas).

Illustrations

My landscape paintings are the “Stickers” contained at the back of the book. They allow children to organize the paintings and place them in the sticker box at the top of each page; the lined area is for children to write (or print) as a way of practicing physical writing skills. There are no rules, no structure, just views that the bear sees. Imagination determines the how, when, and why. The animals and birds allow transitions or bridges for different directions in the development of the plot.