By Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Children’s author Jane Blondie fondly remembers Grade 6 at McNaughton Avenue Public School in Chatham.
That’s the year teacher Don Allison inspired her love of creative writing.
“I never knew that I loved to write until I landed in his class,” said Blondie in a recent interview. “It was a great discovery for me that year. He just got it in my head that I could publish a book. That’s when I began to love to write.”
Now, 40 years later, the teacher, turned author, has published her first children’s book.
Dubbed “Do Not Turn the Page,” the colourfully illustrated book tells the tale of a boy named Charlie. Throughout the interactive work, Charlie does his best to avoid bathtime. Each page in the hilarious story leads the mischievous youngster closer to the tub, so in the book Charlie pleads, cajoles and tries to trick young readers into stopping his journey to the bath so he can go back outside and play.
Charlie is a marionette Blondie began using as a teaching tool at the beginning of her 21-year career teaching with the Toronto District School Board. Over the years, the marionette’s antics have become famous among the pupils at Crestview Public School, where she teaches drama, dance and music to students from kindergarten to Grade 3.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Charlie’s popularity rose to new heights, Blondie said, as she used him to create videos for homework assignments and instructional videos.
“All the kids wanted to see and hear about Charlie,” Blondie explained. “They kept asking for him.”
Her positive experience engaging the naughty marionette to help students learn helped sow the seeds for the book.
“Don’t Turn the Page” is receiving rave reviews and has been chosen to be part of the Scholastic Canada book fair. The book, illustrated by Windsor’s Marcus Cutler, is available at libraries and bookstores across Canada.
According to Blondie, who attends writer workshops on a regular basis, publishing a book “opened up a whole new world,” to her, noting it’s been a “lot of fun.”
The Chatham native, who returned to her hometown recently to do a reading at Turns & Tales, emphasized that Allison’s influence in her life cannot be underestimated.
“Mr. Allison had us write stories every day, all year long,” she said. “He told the whole class that we were all capable of publishing a book.”
Blondie, who grew up in Chatham, attended McNaughton and later Chatham-Kent Secondary School before going to university in Guelph. She completed her teaching degree in Chatham with the University of Windsor before moving to Toronto in 2000.
Blondie has dedicated “Do Not Turn the Page” to parents Jim and Joanne Kelly, recognizing them for supporting her in her educational and creative pursuits.
More children’s books featuring Charlie may be on the horizon for Blondie, she said, as the author is currently working on a Halloween-themed book, as well as one about a teddy bear.
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