On June 13 at the Vinalhaven School, 95 kindergarten through fifth grade students and their teachers crowded into a classroom to listen to author Anne Wescott Dodd read aloud from her book, The Story of Sea Glass.
Sea Glass has been chosen by Maine island students, K – 4, as the winner from among ten books competing for the first annual Golden Trap Award. The theme for this inaugural competition was “life by the sea.” Copies of Sea Glass in island library collections will now sport the Golden Trap Award logo, designed by Vinalhaven middle school student Oakley Jackson.
Both Dodd and illustrator Mary Beth Owens traveled to Vinalhaven in response to school librarian Susan Dempster’s invitation to attend the book award ceremony. In addition to reading to the students, the author and illustrator answered questions about creating the book and about sea glass itself. Dodd brought some lovely sea glass decorations and jewelry – some made by Dodd – for the students to look at and pass around.
To close the ceremony, Dempster presented each woman with a token of appreciation – a tiny lobster trap pendant for Dodd and a lobster boat and trap pin for Owens. Homemade cookies and lemonade were served in the schoolyard afterward. The reading list for the second annual Golden Trap Award will be announced next fall.
The Story of Sea Glass was published by Down East Books in 1999.