Author brings circus tales to Middleton kids at the library
Cara Spilsbury
MIDDLETON — On a recent afternoon at the Flint Library, children were taken back in time by 100 years as they imagined camels, bearded ladies, contortionists, and even the legendary elephant Jumbo parading down their street.
Helping to illuminate the scene were the stories told by author Carlyn Beccia and the artwork in her alphabet book, "Who Put the B in the Ballyhoo?" that mimicked circus bills of old.
One of her colorful characters is Houdini, whom Beccia drew upside down in a glass case of water, his feet dangling in the air. She told the children about Harry Houdini — they were fascinated that his trick for performing death-defying stunts was never found out.
"A magician never tells his secret," explained the Lynnfield resident Beccia.
But she was less tight-lipped about the secrets to her success as an author and illustrator.
She told the children that every time she's reading and comes across a word she doesn't know, she looks it up.
"The more words we know, the more tools we have. The more tools we have means we'll be better writers."
She also shared with the children that writing and drawing about something you are passionate about can make the process all the more enjoyable.
"I love the circus," she told her audience. "It's a good idea to write about something you love."
"Who Put the B in the Ballyhoo?" was released in April and is the first published book for Beccia, who says she never thought of herself as a writer.
"It's like having a baby, your first book," said the pregnant Beccia, who will release her second book, "Royal Ruckus," next year.
With her book on the shelves for just over a month, Beccia has been busy doing book signings, school visits, and library programs. Her favorite of all of her programs are the school and library visits, because she gets to do crafts with children who are eager to learn.
"It's fun to see how creative they can be," she said. "And the circus is great, because it really lends itself well to creativity."
After the reading, in which the children were asked to deduce whether each character in the book was real or a hoax, they were each given a circus poster for them to color and adorn any way they wanted. They drew their own faces on the world's strongest man, scribbled tutus on the trapeze artist, and colored in the dress of the bearded lady. After completing their masterpieces, some of the children decided to submit them into a contest for free circus tickets from the Big Apple Circus.
Friends Olivia Tirelli and Adriana DeFillippis, of Middleton, liked both the pictures that Beccia had done and the pictures they got to draw themselves. They also liked the animals and characters in the book.
"It was funny," said Olivia, who's mother bought a signed copy of "Who Put the B in the Ballyhoo?" to benefit the Flint.
The children's imaginations were also aflutter because of Beccia's presentation, as they dreamed of what kind of book they might write some day.
"I might make a book about animals someday, or about jobs," said Olivia, a first-grader at Fuller Meadow. "Maybe about birds or deer, dogs or cats."
"I'd write about deers, or maybe horses," said Adriana, a Fuller Meadow kindergartner.
Students from Julie Blomberg's second-grade class at Meritor Acadmey made up the majority of the group, as they walked the few hundred feet to the library's temporary location on Route 114.
"In second grade, we do a lot of writing, and a lot of different writing," Blomberg said. "It's great for them to meet real authors so they can ask questions. The real life examples help a lot."
Staff writer Cara Spilsbury can be reached at cspilsbury@towncrossings.com
