By FRANCES BRENT
“And Candy Smiled” was Carole Sarkan’s first book about a wonderfully hyperactive dog that lost a leg to a passing car. Carole Sarkan’s simple words and Emily Christoff-Flowers’ lush illustrations mesh to tell a story full of the joy and energy of life embodied by one cuddly and expressively noisy dog casually overcoming a real disability.
In the just published companion book, “And Candy Lived,” the message of the power of love continues. Death is never mentioned and life goes on in settings created by love, imagination and memory. The scenes and sentiments are “So North West Ohio,” yet touch on the universal themes of love, family and transcending sorrow. These are books to be read aloud and then savored alone for the gorgeously romantic illustrations and the sheer dogginess that touches our human psyche. We love our dogs. Think how the New Orleans floods showed that bond.
To say children’s author Carole Sarkan is local is almost to re-define the term. Born and schooled in Bowling Green, she graduated from BGSU and lives in Grand Rapids. Carole student taught in Bowling City with her former sixth grade teacher and spent her entire public school career teaching in the BG system.
Keeping the local story going, Carole, then at Crim, taught three granddaughters of her 6th grade teacher (me). Time passed – and Carole, the one-time second grader, joined her seco And Candy Livednd grade teacher as a colleague at the Liberty Building. Now they are both retired and friends.
Of course the wonderful illustrator, a BG treasure named Emily Christoff-Flowers, is a former classmate of Carole’s now living in Virginia. The two creative friends teamed up to produce lovely books, the first nominated for a Caldecott award in 2013.
Teaching has a strong pull on Sarkan still. She will continue to do workshops at area schools, using the two Candy books as creative spring boards. She will soon be sharing the wisdom of her teaching years as a University Mentor guiding student teachers.
Books will be available locally at Calico, Sage and Thyme, various book happenings, including The Black Swamp Arts Festival, and on Amazon.com. Learn more at www.andcandysmiled.com.
