Author evokes picture day memories Winthrop writer Plourde’s new book revisits autumn rite of school photos

SCHOOL PICTURE DAY, written by Lynn Plourde, illustrated by Thor Wickstrom, Dutton Children’s Books, New York, 2002, 36 pages, hardcover, $16.99.

Twelve years ago Winthrop author Lynn Plourde penned a story about a family going for a studio portrait and sent it to numerous publishers. Her folder of submissions, rejections and revisions grew to 4 inches thick. Eventually, she wondered if her story would ever be published.

Fortunately the same persistence which enabled Plourde to invest nearly a decade in her annotated bibliography, “A Celebration of Maine Children’s Books,” won out again. Slowly the tale evolved. The family going for a portrait became a class of second-graders on “School Picture Day.” The protagonist morphed from boy to girl. The book finally has come out, just in time to amuse parents and delight children who soon will participate in this rite of autumn.

As the story opens a group of children board their school bus, all proudly dressed up except Josephina Caroleena Wattasheena the First. She’s a tactile learner with great curiosity about how everything works. Her experiments with the bus gearshift, her teacher’s pencil sharpener, the school sprinkler and heating system, and the photographer’s birdie leave her classmates ever more disheveled. But when a real emergency strikes, leaving the adults helpless, she’s able to save the day.

Plourde greatly enjoyed creating Josephina, the child who is perceived as and expected to be a troublemaker, yet triumphs over her “shortcomings.” She believes that girls today need more role models who are willing to get dirty, take risks, and experiment with intriguing objects. Also, while sympathizing with the challenges tactile learners pose for the teacher in charge of a class of 23, she believes this is the way most of us learn best. “We get in the nature of things. We take things apart and see how they work,” Plourde said during a recent interview.

Plourde’s dedication reads, “With love to Seth, my favorite fidgeter, fiddler, fuddler, foopler.” As a child her stepson and inspiration provided her with many colorful memories. “One day he poured a whole bottle of shampoo down the bathroom sink,” she recalled. “I told him he could not do that again. The next day he poured a whole bottle of dish detergent down the bathroom sink.”

The bouncingly lyrical poetic quality of the book’s language is pure Plourde:

“After some highfalutin fidgeting, fiddling, fuddling, and foopling, Josephina finally figured out how the camera worked.

‘It works,’ said Josephina.

‘Nice fiddling.’ Mrs. Sheppard smiled.

‘Sweetie, munchkin, pumpkin pie. Show me! Show me!’ begged the photographer.”

Plourde sometimes wonders why she writes this way. But kids love it. Families acquiring “School Picture Day” will find it quickly joining the cache of favorites their children beg to hear again and again. It’s a must buy for any clan owning much-loved copies of her “Moose, Of Course!” and “Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud.”

Thor Wickstrom’s illustrations perfectly convey the zest of the text from the title page, where children in various stages of getting ready for school strive diligently to look their best, to the final class portrait with the mystery new big kid, where the very tousled, grimy students smile for the camera. Plourde said that the nature of the assignment posed challenges for the artist and editor. Changes in appearance of a character from page to page can jolt the reader out of the spirit of the story. Usually picture books have smaller casts. Here there were 22 students for whom this continuity had to be preserved. Plourde and Wickstrom’s school pictures on the book jacket are the cherries on an irresistible literary ice cream sundae.

For librarians, “School Picture Day” is a must acquisition. Each fall it will delight students about to be photographed and ease fears of those who might be a bit apprehensive.