SCS teachers launch children’s book

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This article was published 01/12/2016 (3135 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two local teachers have teamed up to take youngsters on an adventure with their new children’s book, Rudiger and the Painted Door.

The book was written by Jonathan Toews, an English language arts teacher at Steinbach Christian School, and illustrated by Ryan Polinsky, who teaches art at SCS.

For Toews, the book’s journey from imagination to page was many years in the making.

“It started a long time ago,” said Toews, “when my first daughter was born, almost nine years ago. We started reading her children’s books, and I got the idea that it’s something that I probably could do.”

Speaking of his creative process, Toews said he drew inspiration from what his kids were watching and reading. He added that he enjoys some of the themes in classic youth fiction genres like fantasy and science fiction.

The book’s plot revolves around Rudiger, who Toews described as “a curious individual, like lots of main characters are.”

“Rudiger finds a piece of wood in the woods behind his house…and he wants to paint it, and then he forgot about it, and then stuff starts to happen,” said Toews, keen to keep the rest of the plot a secret for young readers to discover.

After coming up with a main character and a central conflict, Toews said the rest of the story followed very quickly. Then it sat, for several years, hibernating on his computer’s hard drive.

“I didn’t think anything was going to happen with it,” said Toews.

The project was helped over the next hurdle in 2015, when two colleagues started their own publishing company. For Toews, the opportunity was too good to pass up.

“I thought, ‘Oh, really? I wrote a book, would you be interested in it?’” said Toews, laughing in hindsight at the serendipitous timing.

With a publication timeline in motion, Polinsky joined the project, providing vivid, colourful illustrations of Rudiger’s adventure.

“I have a bunch of good words here, but the pictures really make this book come alive, and that’s true for any children’s book,” said Toews, clarifying his appreciation for Polinsky’s artistic talents.

Polinsky began with preliminary sketches on a tablet, then used computer software to draw the shapes and add the colouring.

“It was all digital,” Polinsky explained, adding that he found inspiration in the pictures featured in the children’s magazines that his own kids enjoy reading.

Once the illustrations were complete, Toews read the story to his own children, as well as his students, to gauge their reactions to the characters and storyline.

Toews and Polinsky formally launched the book on Friday evening at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg.

“Oh, it was so much fun,” said Toews, when asked about the event. Interest in the book launch was so great that, as parents and children filed in, organizers had to quickly expand the seating.

Toews said the highlight of the event was reading the book aloud to children, who eagerly gathered at the front.

“When we read it at the book launch, kids were laughing, kids were looking at the pictures in wonderment, and they just thought it was awesome,” said Toews.

Polinsky added that one child said he has already read the book three times, and now wants to write his own book.

“It was just a ton of fun,” Polinsky said.