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Okotoks artist illustrates send-up to Calgary Reads

To commemorate the organization, Jennifer Stables created the artwork for Barry Thorson's 'The Teeth of the Lion'.

An Okotoks artist has illustrated another story for children, this time those less fortunate.

Written by Barry Thorson, Jennifer Stables created the artwork for The Teeth of the Lion.

"It’s about a girl who discovers stories for the first time, and by the end of the book is able to share those stories with everybody around her, including her grandpa who she lives with,” Stables said.

“It really is about spreading the seeds of literature and telling stories and engaging in stories."

The book is intended as a send-up to Calgary Reads, a non-profit which operated in the city for over 20 years, and is now disbanding into several smaller organizations.

“What they were finding is they have so many things they were managing under one umbrella, and they were just finding there’s more needs than what they could meet as a single organization,” Stables said.

“They’re calling that disbandment into their dandelion story. So now all the things they did are still intact, but now they're separated into separate organizations, so just like a dandelion spreads and plants new seeds.”

The origin of the word dandelion, Stables explained, is dent de lion, meaning tooth of the lion in French.

Among the initiatives operated by Calgary Reads were the Big Book Sale each year in May, as well as the Little Red Reading House in Inglewood, a real two-storey house set up as a space for children to explore and enjoy reading, and where Stables has been hosted for readings.

“So as a celebration for their ‘dandelion story’, a former board member (Thorson) who now lives in Australia, wrote the story," Stables explained.

“At first it was 3,000 words, but knowing me they asked me to read it through and work with Barry to get the story to a level where we could put it in a picture book and be appropriate for kids between kindergarten to Grade 3.

“I worked for several months on the illustrations, and Barry was amazing to work with, as is Stacy, the former CEO of Calgary Reads who spearheaded the project."

The book was also sponsored by the Spruce Meadows Leg Up Foundation with the intent of being able to give it away to kids who would otherwise not have a book of their own.

Stables held readings at Calgary area schools where copies of The Teeth of the Lion were given out, and said plans are in the works to hold similar events in Okotoks. It can also be found at the Little Red Reading House.

For more information about Jennifer Stables' work and upcoming projects visit instagram.com/jennydaledesigns.




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