| Author and humanitarian, Tina Turbin ( brought | | | | book. From there she ended up getting married |
| her children's book Danny the Dragon Meets | | | | and having three kids of her own. Just two years |
| Jimmy to Blossom Montessori School for the | | | | ago all her kids had moved out and were on their |
| Deaf ( for a special day of reading and fun. Tina's | | | | own. At that point, Tina decided that she could |
| was there to provide a reading of her book to | | | | put her attention on her writing and the arts. Tina |
| young deaf children, opening a door a little wider | | | | described the process of creating an illustrative |
| to a group of kids who have less opportunity | | | | work and her relationship with her award winning |
| than other kids. Blossom School is a unique school | | | | Illustrator, Aija Jasuna and how they worked |
| in that a Montessori curriculum is the starting point. | | | | through an interpreter on long-distance calls and |
| Adding to it are processes, materials and | | | | emails. This fascinated the kids, who had first |
| methodologies suited to meet each individual child's | | | | hand experience working through interpreters. |
| needs. | | | | Tina went on to explain that when she began |
| The day started off with a question and answer | | | | working on the book, she had a really well-defined |
| session where the kids had many questions. They | | | | sense of the characters including how they should |
| wanted to know how Tina got started as an | | | | look and how, through the process, the |
| author, how she created the book, what are her | | | | characters came to life on the pages of the book. |
| plans were and many other questions. Tina told | | | | One could see many of the kids formulating their |
| them that when she was 16 she wrote her first | | | | future book ideas. |