Posted on Monday, September 10, 2007
Westminster College will host Marc Brown, author and illustrator of the Arthur children's book series, for a presentation Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. in Orr Auditorium.
Brown's appearance at Westminster is sponsored by the College's Department of Education and is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow the presentation. Attendees may bring their own books or purchase them at the event.
A native of Millcreek, near Erie, Brown and his three sisters grew up with a grandmother who told the most wonderful stories. Brown recalls, "Back then I never dreamed I would grow up to tell stories of my own. But when my first son was born, I started telling him stories every night before he went to sleep. Most of the stories were about animals. One night our story was about an aardvark who hated his nose. The aardvark, of course, was named Arthur, and that story became Arthur's Nose, the first book in the Arthur Adventure series."
Out of the Arthur series grew a series based on Arthur's little sister, D.W., and today there are more than 117 Arthur and D.W. books. Most of the characters are modeled after a person or combination of people from Brown's life. Grandma Thora is based on his real-life grandmother, "the best storyteller ever."
Contact Dr. Amy Camardese, Westminster College assistant professor of education, at (724) 946-7183 or e-mail mailto:camardah@westminster.edu for additional information.
Westminster's Celebrity Series will present "Arthur Tricks the Tooth Fairy" Oct. 17. Visit http://www.westminster.edu/Celebrity for more information.
