Waupaca grad teaches art, writes and illustrates children’s books
By Robert Cloud
A children’s author encouraged Waupaca elementary students to try new things.
“Trying new things helps you discover who you are,” said Amy Ward.
She said it helped her discover she was an author and an illustrator.
For six years, Ward was a math teacher until she became a stay-at-home mom for 12 years, raising three boys.
She discovered she preferred art to math and returned to college to earn credentials in art education.
Ward now teaches art to kindergartners through fourth graders at Germantown Hills Grade School in Illinois.
“I usually have some kind of connection to a book in my art classes,” she said.
Ward is a 1987 graduate of Waupaca High School whose father, Thom Radler, taught English there for 35 years.
She spoke about the creative process behind her newest book, “Crunchy, Not Sweet.”
The story is about a red-eyed tree frog named Little Tree Dude who decides he is bored with his steady diet of mushy worms.
Dude explores new foods until he finds the perfect treat, a fly.
Along the way, young readers learn about the rainforest, diet and the difference between a herbivore and a carnivore.
During her presentation at Waupaca Learning Center, Ward explained why most children’s books are 32 pages.
She brought out two students from the bleachers and gave them two large sheets of paper. Each sheet had eight pages printed on both sides.
That is what a children’s book looks like before the pages are cut from the sheets and bound within a cover.
She explained how she experimented with multiple collage and painting techniques and different images for Dude until the book looked the way she wanted.
Near the end of he presentation, Ward elicited groans from the students when she said they had a homework assignment.
Then, she said, “Try something new.”