'One Dragon's Tale'
<p>Students at Sorensen Magnet School for the Arts and Humanities pose with copies of “Spike … One Dragon’s Tale,” a book they wrote, illustrated and hand-bound and will sell to raise money to drill a water well in a remote Ethiopian MAUREEN DOLAN/Press Students at Sorensen Magnet School for the Arts and Humanities pose with copies of “Spike … One Dragon’s Tale,” a book they wrote, illustrated and hand-bound and will sell to raise money to drill a water well in a remote Ethiopian village. Front row from left are Lydia Howard, Tate Erwin, Mickey Ho…
COEUR d'ALENE - The imagination and creativity of elementary school children in Coeur d'Alene will lead to clean drinking water for kids living half a world away.
Proceeds from sales of a book written, illustrated and hand-bound by students at Sorensen Magnet School for the Arts and Humanities will be used to pay for a water well to be dug in a remote village in Ethiopia.
The book about Spike, a dragon struggling with self-acceptance, will be on sale May 12 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Kootenai County Farmers Market in downtown Coeur d'Alene.
"It's about a dragon with hot pink fur and three heads," said second-grader Tate Erwin.
"Spike ... One Dragon's Tale" is full of magic spells, potions and charms gone awry as Spike tries to turn himself into something he can live with.
A purple tornado crossing a dark, night sky illustrates the pages written and designed by Tate and his classmates.
The rest of the book's pages were completed by other Sorensen classes, each writing part of the story. The illustrated pages were also created by each class and feature a water-colored background with a collage of crayon-colored sections arranged to create images of dragons, fire, flowers, trees and more.
Available for $20 per copy, the books were bound by little hands that sewed, glued, painted and colored them in an assembly line production.
"Although they are all the same, each one is unique in its own way," said artist-in-residence and Sorensen mom Sharalee Howard, who led students through the project.
With 275 copies of the book available for purchase, Howard said they need to raise $4,000 for the well in Ethiopia.
The well is expected to provide safe, clean drinking water for about 400 people living in a village where the only available water is from an untreated river, about a six-hour walk away.
"We're doing good stuff for people in need," said sixth-grade student Jack Barrett, 12.
Jack's father Andy will travel to Ethiopia in June to dig the well.
"The community of Coeur d'Alene has really come together to make Sorensen a special school," Howard said.
The artist-in-residence programming regularly held at Sorensen is funded primarily with proceeds from the school's annual benefit auction.
"This is a way for the kids to continue that chain of giving," she said.
Information: 664-2822