Where is Simon, Sandy and Hurricane Mia Teach Publishing

An impromptu portrait of a donkey and tales of life on a Caribbean island captured the attention of students at Newmarket Elementary School, Maryland on Friday, April 15, as they learned about the process of publishing. Our very own Donna Seim and illustrator Sue Spellman spent the day talking with students about their work, specifically two books they collaborated on: Where is Simon, Sandy? and Hurricane Mia — A Caribbean Adventure.

Donna Seim (left) and Sue Spellman (right) at Newmarket School

“We’ve done two books together (and) we’re working on a third,” Spellman said. “We were friendly first, we knew of each other and each other’s work. She’s just been great; it’s wonderful to work together.”
Students loved both books and asked many questions. “(Spellman) is really good at drawing,” said kindergarten student Lexi Catalone. “I really liked the book a lot, especially the donkey.”

Seim spoke to students first, explaining her inspiration for the book and showing photographs that she used to help her tell the story. Then Spellman talked to students about how a book is created.

“After she wrote her words for the story, it was my job to make the illustrations,” Spellman said. “I usually read the story first, using my imagination to make pictures in my head. … I would think about what I wanted on each page, how many pages I have to work with. Scribbling is the first part, then a rough sketch, then using color on good paper.”

Sue Spellman with a sketch of Sandy the donkey.

One student said he was surprised how much work goes into creating the artwork for a book. “I thought it was pretty cool that she starts with scribbles before she does her final art,” said second-grade student Owen Tower. “I love to draw too, especially chibi manga characters.”

“I liked how she did the dark drawings after the light ones,” said Emily Hoover, a second-grade student. “My favorite things to draw are chibis, bunnies and cats.”

For both, visiting with the students is an especially rewarding part of their jobs.  “It helps kids to understand more about the process,” Spellman said. “A book is a labor of love, it’s not instantaneous. It develops over time for both the author and the illustrator.”

Proceeds of Where is Simon, Sandy? help students in the Caribbean by going to the children’s club at the Turks and Caicos National Museum.

Many Thanks

By Melanie Clifton-Harvey
Museum Archivist
In early January 2010 a group of passengers from the Holland America cruise ship found their way to the museum.  After being told to look for Melanie by the ladies in the Gift Shop they came around to the Science building and the gentleman came upstairs. “My wife is a Tatem,” he said, “and we are trying to find out more about the family before we have to go back to the ship, they told us to ask for you!”

Now usually I try to get people to make an appointment to give me time to find something about the family, or at the very least find out that we have no information and provide ideas for other places to look. On this occasion I already knew that I had nothing about the Tatem family that would help this couple and as the lady had been in a car accident I thought it best to go down to her to discuss the options. Mr. and Mrs. Grether from South Carolina were looking for birth or marriage certificates from their family because some of their relatives had been born on Grand Turk, but sadly we didn’t have anything from the right time period for them in the TCNM.

I walked the couple down to see Ms. Sigrid Lightbourne and her staff at the Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths on Front Street. I explained the system to apply for a certificate, if there were any records in existence, and after doing my bit as tour guide along Front Street, we got to the Registry. The Head Registrar, Ms. Sigrid Lightbourne, very kindly said that she would make copies of any records they found in time for the couple to get back onto their cruise ship that afternoon!

I took my leave of the couple, Ken and Diane, knowing that I had left them in capable hands and it wasn’t until I received a letter from South Carolina dated January 21^st that I thought any more about a typical museum day. Mrs. Grether had written a letter to me and another to Dr. Toni Carrell at the friends of the Turks and Caicos Museum in New Mexico to thank me, and say that they had left the island with the birth certificate of her father who had been born here in 1914! Diane was extremely grateful and said that I had “aided her in achieving a special wish”.

It is always nice to be appreciated for helping people, and it was lovely to receive such a nice letter. It came as an even bigger surprise then when in mid-February I was told that I had been mentioned on the local radio station in the government news section. Apparently, Diane had also sent a letter to Ms. Clara Gardiner, Permanent Secretary for Border Control and Immigration, praising both Ms. Lightbourne and the Registry staff for their special treatment and me, and Ms. Gardiner had wanted to share this news across the Turks and Caicos Islands!
Another happy visitor!

Home Movies A La Jack Little

The Museum receives many emails on our info@tcmuseum.org, but none as interesting as the one we received in late January, 2011, from a Mr. Lawrence Jack Little. Here is his email:

I am Lawrence Jack Little.  I worked at the tracking station in 1959/60 and I visited Turk in 2004 or there about.  I talked with a Ms Cheryll Paige and promised her I would send photo I had taken while working at the tracking station.  However, I have been very remiss in my promise.  I did find some 8mm movies I had taken of various events and while diving off the end of the Island.  I do wonder if you would be interested having these movies.  If so, I will be glad to ship them to you to include in the museum in anyway.

The wife and I had a wonderful stay at the Osprey Hotel and even encountered some old friends there at the Osprey.  It was wonderful to visit back to the island to see how you have expanded the water supply and the electrical service since I had worked there.  Also, I recalled visiting the dentist while working there and his wind powered drill he used to fill a tooth for me.

I answered his email, and told Mr. Little that we would love to have his films. He converted them onto a DVD and sent it to my USA address while I was visiting my son in March. I brought the DVD back and watched it with Melanie. WOW was I ever surprised. For a “home movie” from 1959-1960 it is wonderful. Numerous shots of the island, the Bases, and footage of Front Street with many buildings that are no longer standing. There were also some underwater clips, something we only thought would be done via Hollywood and “Sea Hunt”. (Only real Baby Boomers would remember that one!!).

Since we had “Movie Night” at the Museum scheduled for Tuesday, March 29, we decided it would be great to have this footage precede our feature film. When I emailed Mr. Little and told him, we both agreed that some things never change some 50 years later…entertainment on Grand Turk is self made!
When our movie-goers were assembled, I read the email that Mr. Little had sent, and told everyone they were in for a real treat. Once the movie started, everyone was shouting out “oh where is that” or “oh my how things have changed”. Mr. and Mrs. Dempsey were the best at recognizing some of the places in the film. We are making them a copy so they can sit and go through it at their leisure. This way the Museum has a record of what is on the film.

Although Mr. Little was not in attendance for the “premier” of his film, he did get a standing ovation.

Most folks thought his movie was much better than our feature presentation!
So, dig through those cupboards and storage units and send the Museum your photos or memories.
Here is everyone waving to Mr. Little.