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| Turning Words Into Images |
| Waller Junior High Celebrates READ ACROSS AMERICA |
| Turning Words Into Images by Nora Mckay |
| Back to Reading Across America |
| Turning words into images, a class of seventh graders at Waller Junior High is helping a local author illustrate his latest masterpiece. Having written several books and plays, Howard Domnick, has one book currently at the publisher, called Danny on the Pioneer Trail, and a follow-up, Danny on the Prairie, that he hopes to get published as well. After seeing a newspaper article featuring an art student from Waller, Domnick, a former speech teacher at the school, felt inspired to bring some younger minds into his work. Since the main character is 14 years old and travels from Georgia to Oklahoma, Domnick saw the seventh-grade students as the perfect illustrators for his first Danny novel, and hopefully his second. |
| "My Danny books are for teenagers ... and the type of drawings that they make are exactly the type that should be in my story," Domnick said. Without seeing a copy of the first book, students were just told bits and pieces in order to come up with their drawings. They did have the advantage of listening to the second manuscript read by Pam Gilbreath, art teacher, as they completed their drawings. "I am so happy to feel like I have a bunch of young students that enjoy my story and really understand what's going on here," Domnick said. |
To assist them in their drawings, students looked for clues by doing a little researching. "She (Gilbreath) had us look at pictures of an Indian or horses ... so I looked at that but changed all the clothing and changed the size. It had to be original." said M. S., seventh-grader. |
Once the students had their drawings completed, Gilbreath and Domnick looked at. value, texture, accuracy and point of view and picked five winners. "I think it's really cool because when I grow up I can always say I got a picture illustrated in a book when I was in seventh grade," H said. Students are not only perfecting their art skills, they are learning about the pioneer days. On a recent visit, Domnick read to the students and told them how $1 in those days is equivalent to about $25 now. |