Eastbrook author transfixes Caribou kids

CARIBOU – As Eastbrook resident Robert Pottle stood before a crowd of wide-eyed children on Saturday afternoon, it was easy to tell that he is a gifted storyteller.

The former teacher paraded before the youths in a wide array of costumes, reciting poems, singing and gesturing wildly with his hands as he spoke.

Before he turned each page, he would stop and show the children the vivid illustrations sketched alongside each poem.

It was easy for Pottle to recite those verses from memory. After all, he wrote them.

The author was in the city on Saturday to unveil his latest collection of humorous poetry, titled “Moxie Day the Prankster,” to a sea of enraptured children and parents at the Caribou Recreation Department.

“This is the first time this book is being seen anywhere,” Pottle told the crowd of more than 35 people. “I said to myself, ‘I want to have a good book release,’ and I decided that I wanted to do it in Aroostook County.”

Pottle is the author of numerous children’s books and a host of poems that have appeared in various anthologies. His first collection, “Maine: The Way Life Is,” is currently in its third printing.

The author combines lyrics and comic strips into a unique publication, and the pictures in his first three books were sketched by Jonathan Siruno, who grew up in Caribou. Siruno also was at the event to sign books and answer questions for the youngsters.

Pottle told the youth that Siruno was unable to illustrate his next book, scheduled for release in the spring. That led the author on a search for a new artist, which he made public for the first time on Saturday afternoon.

“It just so happens that the illustrator for my next book, Holly Hardwick, lives in Limestone,” Pottle explained.

Hardwick, who moved to the County from Boothbay Harbor, said at the book release that she has been drawing since she was a child. Her illustrations first came out in print in 1992.

“I read an article about Mr. Pottle in a newspaper last year, and I knew that I wanted to get my work back out there,” Hardwick recalled on Saturday. “I wrote him a letter and he contacted me about helping him with his upcoming book.”

The artist said that it is easy to draw pictures to go along with Pottle’s lyrics.

“The images just pop right into my head,” she admitted. “When I read his poems, the ideas just come flying out.”

Waiting in line to have her daughter’s book autographed, parent Stephanie Trautman of Limestone said that both she and 5-year-old Sophia love Pottle’s work.

“This is our third year coming to his readings since we came here from Oklahoma,” Trautman explained on Saturday. “We came and saw him when we first got here, and now we have all of his books.”

For more information about the author, visit his Web site www.robertpottle.com/robert/robert.php.