Local author Cindy Millen admits she is in love with Ireland. She visits the country at least twice a year and, like any good Irishman, brings back wonderful stories about her ancestral home.
She has used some of those stories about the monasteries she has visited to write a new children’s book, soon to be published by Charlesbridge Publishers. The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane tells the story of an Irish monk whose job of illustrating manuscripts in brown ink clashes with his love of the colors of nature. He finds a way to use berries, flowers and leaves into a rainbow of ink shades, encouraging his brother monks to fill their books with “heavenly hues.”
Woven throughout the story are poems about their work, adapted by Millen from medieval monks in their native language. She combined lines from different poems and modernized the language, then placed the poems into the story, a technique that reminds the reader that these men were very real and very human. A note from the author provides background about the work of the monks and their role in keeping “the light of knowledge” alive in the Dark Ages in Europe.
Millen remembers her Irish
parents providing her with a childhood of humor, traditions, and, of course, stories. She always liked to write stories, and credits her teachers at Gesu School and Blessed Sacrament School with encouraging her to write and illustrate her stories. One Sister of Notre Dame, Sister Mary Theophane Sullivan, provided the name for her story’s main character. “Sister Mary Theophane was an amazing force of nature. She was strict and brilliant, but with a twinkle in her eye….and her being a Sullivan, that explains the twinkle of course. So when the idea came to me to write about the monks who copied all of the great works during medieval times, that name Theophane seemed perfect for my brilliant, but mischievous monk.”
When the book is released in July, Millen hopes to present a copy of the book to Sister Mary Theophane, who recently celebrated her 100th birthday. The book will be available at websites like www.amazon.com and stores cuch as Books-A-Million.

The Perrysburg Area Arts Council wants kids to show off their artwork this summer. The Council is accepting entries of artwork created by youth artists (ages 6-18 years old) to be exhibited during First Fridays in downtown Perrysburg through October. Prizes will be awarded and select pieces will be displayed in public locations throughout the summer. All artwork must be original and all types of media are accepted. Entry is free. For more information, visit
www.perrysburgarts.org/family_callforart.html
or call 419-873-2787.

Get your paintbrush handy for the Birdhouses for Schoolhouses fundraising event happening June 12.  Birdhouses for Schoolhouses is currently distributing fifty birdhouses to people in the Toledo area for them to decorate any way they want.  The finished birdhouses must be returned to the Toledo Farmers Market by 8 a.m. on June 12 where they will be sold at silent auction later that morning from 9 a.m. to noon.  All the proceeds raised from the fundraiser will benefit Veggie U, an Ohio based nonprofit organization that educates 4th grade students in the classroom about the benefits of healthy living.
A coalition of area educators, nutritionists, and top chefs united in a belief that diet is the main cause behind so many rising childhood illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and learning disabilities; Veggie U produces a hands on curriculum that incorporates mathematics, language arts, and fine arts to teach students the importance of healthy living.  Veggie U classroom kits include seeds, soil, flats, root view boxes, grow lights, and worm farms; and the program meets all 4th grade science requirements set forth by “No Child Left Behind.”  Kits have been distributed to nearly 2,000 classrooms to date, introducing nearly 40,000 students to nutritional principles, sustainable agriculture, and healthy culinary arts.

Hands-on learning just got a burst of power with Imagination Station’s newest Learning World, Energy Factory. Visitors can gain a glimpse into the world of oil refining and solar energy through interactive and group-focused activities. Take your friends to the Photovoltaic Wall, which challenges you to block out the sun as a cloud would, demonstrating effect on energy output. Or, go head to head with someone at the Solar Shooting Gallery. These interactive activities are sure to bring energy to your visit and resurge your learning experience!  Imagination Station,  419-244-2674/
www.imaginationstationtoledo.org.