HOULTON, Maine — Students at Houlton Elementary School had a special opportunity to meet popular children’s author and illustrator, Chris Van Dusen from Camden. The program was sponsored by the Parent-Teacher Organization and with funds from the Title I program.
Van Dusen spent the day with small groups of children reading some of his most popular books and describing the various steps to create the illustrations, as well as the stories.
Born in Portland, he spent his childhood in central Massachusetts, but returned to Maine often to see his grandparents. He was one of five boys and he recalled that many times if he and his brothers didn’t have something to do, his mother would provide paper, pencils or crayons for drawing. Two of those boys developed their craft to become professionals in the field. He specifically loved to draw aliens, monsters and robots.
After high school he attended the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth where he received his fine arts degree. His first job was drawing cartoons and other illustrations for a magazine geared toward teenagers.
In 1985 he moved to Camden to work for a greeting card company based in Rockport. This job lasted for three years, when the company was sold and moved to New Jersey. Van Dusen didn’t want to move. He had married, loved Maine and wanted to stay. So he started freelancing. One of his first jobs was illustrating the instructions for manuals to build things such as swingsets. He also did drawings for magazines and newspapers. In 1996 he was commissioned to do a holiday cover for L.L. Bean and again in 2007.
Over time he began dabbling in writing and often times drew from his own childhood memories. Van Dusen was a fan of Dr. Seuss and Robert McCloskey books. He liked the rhythm of the text and often found himself drawing and coming up with catchy phrases and names. One such phrase was “Mr. Magee and his little dog, Dee hopped in the car and drove to the sea.” From that rhyme his first book was born and published in 2000.
His inspirations come from his experiences as a child. Most of his ideas are from everyday life. His book called “If I Built A Car” came from games he and his family would play when they were all packed in their car for a family trip. Van Dusen said that he uses his imagination and lets his dreams come to life in his books.
When he finishes a book he asks himself, “Would I have read this as a child? Would I want to reread it?”
If the answer is “yes”, then it gets a gold star.
Sometimes he would ask his own sons, who are grown now for another perspective he may not have thought of.
All of his books have been written in rhyme, although the next one called “Hattie and Hudson” due on the bookshelves in 2016, will be his first non-rhyming text.
Van Dusen has also teamed up with popular authors, Mac Barnett and Kate DiCamillo. He has had his illustrations included in Nickelodeon, Family Fun and Disney Adventures. Van Dusen also designed Maine’s lobster license plate and created art for ad campaigns for clean beaches.
He visits about 20 schools a year and enjoys the interaction with the students. When one student asked, “How did you draw that so good?”
He replied, “It takes practice and I do it over and over again until I get it just right.”
The teachers at HES had done a lot of preparation prior to Van Dusen’s visit. Many had created bulletin boards in the hallways with either drawings or writings connected with his books. As the author moved throughout the building he stopped to read many of the pieces. He was very impressed with their writings and illustrations and made it a point to let the students know that he had seen their work.
Each student received a bookmark with photos of his illustrations. After the school day, teachers and parents of Title I students were invited to meet with him to hear suggestions of ways to interest their children in reading and the importance of books. Van Dusen brought several of his books for parents and children to view.
As second-grader Trentin Nason was leaving for the day, he stopped by to sign a welcome poster made for the author and said that he wanted him to illustrate a book he is going to write.
Other books by Van Dusen are: “A Camping Spree with Mr., Magee”, “If I Built A Car”, “If I Ran the Zoo”, “Circus Ship”, and “Learning to Ski With Mr. McGee”.
