Quackenbush Brings Storytime Alive in Eastchester

When you are a kid, story time is always fun, but it's even better when the story leaps off the page through the use of imagination, audience participation, and special guests.

All of the above requirements were met at this past Saturday's book reading with world-renowned and accomplished author and illustrator, Robert Quackenbush at the Eastchester Library.

Quackenbush read the new 30^th Anniversary Edition of his timeless classic, "First Grade Jitters" to approximately 10 children and their families in the Rashkoff Auditorium. Quackenbush didn't just read the story from the book, he recounted the story from memory and illustrated the story on huge sheets of easel paper with colored markers.

Much of the inspiration of the nearly 200 books he has authored and illustrated came from the inspiration of his family, including his son, Piet. 

"Piet provided me with so much inspiration. The story First Grade Jitters actually came from him. Piet was very scared to go to first grade because he thought he had to know everything on the first day," Quackenbush said.

The original story book that featured a bunny rabbit named Piet was going to be discontinued by the publishing company, Harper Books for Children. But due to protests from teachers, children, and parents, the publishing company decided to re-release the book with a new illustrator.

"The new version is illustrated by Yan Nascimbene, a parent, who used his son for inspiration of the illustrations. Instead of a bunny rabbit named Piet, the main character is a little boy named Aiden. Children are supposed to pass their parents.  The new version does that in every way, especially in the illustrations and dedication. The first book was dedicated to Piet and used him as a main character in an apartment building.  The new edition is dedicated to my grandson Aiden, and uses him as the main character in a house in the suburbs," Quackenbush described.

There were two children in the audience who are going to be in first grade in the fall. Unlike Aiden, both of them are eager to go to first grade.

Lindsey, currently in kindergarten at the Waverly School in Eastchester, said, "I think first grade will be fun. I am not scared."

In addition to First Grade Jitters, Quackenbush told two stories in the same manner "Henry's Awful Mistake" and "Henry Babysits." The stories featured a disaster prone character, Henry the Duck, and Quackenbush explained how he came to be.

"A young girl who read my books wrote me a letter once asking me if I was a duck, because of my last name, Quackenbush.  That is how I got started writing books about ducks. Henry came from that,"

The children responded in laughter.

"Henry lives in a quacken bush, and is a chef.  He is also a disaster prone duck cooking dinner for his girlfriend Clara…"

A young girl about 2 years old in the audience giggles. 

"Her name is Clara," responded Clara's mother.

"What did Henry cook you for dinner?" Quackenbush asked.

More giggles from young Clara.

Quackenbush began his award-winning career as an illustrator of children's book then he crossed over into writing.

"I realized I could get double pay if I could write too. I started writing music books. I took song lyrics of simple songs like Skip to My Loo and illustrated the song. Then that evolved into simple stories because the publisher asked me to write about other things. The Detective Mole Series came from that. Piet played detective all the time growing up in the apartment."

The new reissue of "First Grade Jitters", is due in bookstores on June 22. The very first copy of the new reissued book was autographed and issued to the Eastchester Library prior to the release date on June 19.