Author Evan Turk Brings Storytelling to Severn Lower School

1/8/2024

A hush filled the Louise Sivy Theater as Lower School students filed in to meet award-winning author Evan Turk last Wednesday, November 1st. After working for weeks on projects related to Turk’s books, our first through fifth graders were anxious to get a peek behind the scenes at the life and work of a professional writer and artist. Our young readers were mesmerized as Turk brought to life the characters from his most recent book, The Storyteller, and guided us through the process of researching, writing and illustrating his Moroccan tale.

Who is Evan Turk?

Evan Turk is an up-and-coming children’s book author and illustrator, recently awarded the Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award by the New York Times and the New York Public Library. Evan specializes in travel illustration, on-location event reportage, cultural children's books, and concept illustration for video games, animation, and advertising. Lower School librarian Ms. Pilar Okeson discovered Turk through a colleague and was eager to invite him to visit Chesapeake Campus.

“His books appeal to 3rd through 5th graders, but our first and second graders connect with his illustrations and concepts too. He’s a really popular new author and illustrator — he’s winning awards right now and that’s exciting for the kids. I love that his work has so many cultural ties to non-Western locations, giving us a way to explore parts of the world that aren’t part of our regular curriculum.” — Ms. Pilar Okeson

A group of young students listens intently.” width= — *Our first and second graders listened carefully as Turk read The Storyteller aloud.*

His Work

The Storyteller, written and illustrated by Turk, is an original folktale that celebrates the power of stories and storytelling based in Morocco.
Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters, written by Michael Mahin and illustrated by Turk, is a picture book celebration of the indomitable Muddy Waters, a blues musician whose fierce and electric sound laid the groundwork for what would become rock and roll.
Grandfather Gandhi written by Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Arun Gandhi and illustrated by Turk, tells the story of how his grandfather taught him to turn darkness into light in this uniquely personal and vibrantly illustrated tale that carries a message of peace.
Be the Change written by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus, illustrated by Evan Turk, is a companion book to Grandfather Gandhi that tells a poignant, personal story of the damage of wastefulness.

Cross-Curricular Connections

As always, an author visit to our Lower School involves much more than the presentation the day of. During the weeks leading up to the visit, our kids participated in activities in different classes to build background knowledge about the people and places in Turk’s books.

Music. Inspired by Muddy, Ms. Gaylord’s music classes learned about traditional blues chord progressions and wrote their own blues songs.

Art. After reading Muddy, Ms. Friedman’s art classes drew guitars and decorated them in the style of well-known artists. Based on the colorful Moroccan architecture featured in The Storyteller, other classes created models of Moroccan doors and lanterns.

Heartstrings. Based on ideas from Be the Change, Ms. Mitchell led 4th-graders in a discussion of passive vs physical violence. Each student chose an area to work on to "be the change" in their own lives. 5th graders mimicked pledges at the end of the book and described how that would look in their own lives. For example, one student said: "I will do more volunteer work, not waste so much food, and do things that are better for the environment."

Library. Ms. Okeson used concepts from Grandfather Gahndi and Be the Change as the basis for lessons on keyword research using both public search engines and library databases.

Technology. Inspired by the location of The Storyteller, Ms. Dabrowka led students in a discussion about the setting of the story and located Morocco on a world map. They then used iPads to digitally annotate maps of Africa and Morocco, incorporating styles from the book illustrations in their designs.

Spanish. Students used The Storyteller to learn about global citizenship. Ms. Felton shared photos from a trip she took to Morocco and prepared mint tea for her classes. They talked about ways to respect other cultures like participating in traditions such as trying a new food or drink, asking someone to teach you their language, and using manners.

Science. Ms. Pellicani's fourth grade Green Team used themes from Be the Change to look at their own actions and think of ways to be role models for other students. They are spreading the word to their peers about how recyclable materials can be made into new items, many times helping save the earth from further mining and cutting down of trees.

PE. To learn more about the lives of Moroccan people from The Storyteller, students watched videos of a Moroccan Olympic track athlete and talked about sportsmanship and self-esteem in athletics.

After learning about each of Turk’s books, our students prepared questions to ask the author during his presentation. Their questions reflected their interest in both the subject matter of Turk's books and the process of writing and illustrating.

“Can you write Arabic? Will you come back and teach a lesson on writing Arabic?” — Tiki ‘28
“I'm making a book called The Sword of Magic, but how do I make it into a real book?” — Gabe ‘28
“Can you come back and draw a picture of me? Can I have your autograph?” — Allie ‘28
“How do the Moroccan people sew carpets?” (a common question from several students)

Bringing the Outside In

Through these types of experiences with experts from the outside world, we hope to foster among the students and adults in our community an understanding of differences of all kinds, including cultural, racial, and economic. We want our students to make connections between what they are doing in class and ways of life from around the world whether that’s a glimpse into the life of a New York author or learning about storytelling traditions from across the globe.

“With any subject, not just in the library, having visitors from the outside world connect with our community is really important. We choose authors that are well traveled and have a particular interest in other cultures. It’s great for our kids to see those new perspectives and of course, to learn about writing as well. Our kids are constantly working as authors and illustrators — writing, sketching, and creating narratives. They need to see what that looks like as a profession and hear from someone who writes and makes art for a living.” — Ms. Okeson