Springvale Public Library Kids and Teens Bruce McMillan Corner

**Click here for excerpts from Bruce's Tricycle Wash Story Time book!**

Bruce McMillan

www.brucemcmillan.com

The Springvale Library is delighted to host the Bruce McMillan Corner in the Children's Room of the library. Katahdin Award winning author and illustrator Bruce McMillan has been a library supporter for more than thirty years he has lived in Shapleigh, Maine. Springvale Library became his library, and he became our author from the time when he was a struggling writer until today, when he is an internationally known author of more than forty-five highly honored children's books. Bruce has generously donated nine of his original hand tinted photographs from Grandfather's Trolley to hang on permanent display in the Children's Room. Come in and visit, borrow one of Bruce's fine books and enjoy the trolley pictures.

Thank you Bruce!

Grandfather's Trolley

Grandfather's Trolley

Born in Massachusetts, Bruce McMillan was raised in Bangor and Kennebunk, Maine. He graduated from the University of Maine and worked as producer-director in public broadcasting and then as a caretaker of McGee Island off Port Clyde Maine. While island-living, he polished his writing skills. He has since combined writing and photography to create more than forty five children's books including Nights of the Pufflings, The Baby Zoo, Fire Engine Shapes, Wild Flamingos, My Horse of the North, and Salmon Summer. McMillan speaks at conferences and to school children throughout North America, and teaches a children's book class at the University of New Hampshire. He has written more children's books set in Iceland than any other U.S. author and, when he isn't in Iceland working on another book, he lives in a home he built himself in Shapleigh, Maine.

Bruce McMillan credits his father with his early interest in photography. His father gave him his first camera at the age of five and his first professional camera at the age of nine. McMillan learned photography by "doing." Even as a child, McMillan tried taking creative photos - "one of a burning candle from above!" In high school, he took photos for his school newspaper and yearbook. McMillan claims he takes many "bad" pictures, but the key to his success is shooting thousands of photos, if necessary, in order to get the few "perfect photographs" that he uses to illustrate his books. McMillan also takes great pride in designing his own books which often include playful borders like the colorful jelly beans in Jelly Beans For Sal. "Parts of me are in all my books," claims McMillan. Some of his books reflect his training in biology, some of his love of the sea, and all derive from his "Maine roots." In 2007, he was awarded the Katahdin Award in recognition of the lifetime achievement of an outstanding body of work of children's literature in Maine by one author or illustrator.

Information paraphrased from:
A Celebration of Maine's Children's Books
1998 by Lynn Plourde and Paul Knowles

On July 2, 2012, Bruce McMillan held a special Tricycle Wash Story Time at the Springvale Library. He created a one-of-a-kind book about the event and donated it to the Library. The book can be found in its entirety in the children's room. The following text and pictures are excerpts from Bruce's book. Thank you Bruce!

Tricycle Story Time

Excerpts from the Tricycle Wash Story Time with Bruce at the Springvale Library July 2, 2012
Text by Bruce McMillan with photos by Sheila Dube, Dawn Brown, and Bruce McMillan

Lilies

The lilies were blooming ready.

Sign

The parking lot was too.

Reading

Sheila greeted ninety-two young readers and parents too.
"Is everybody here? Hmm, is the remarkable riderless runaway tricycle here? YES!"
So the story began.
Everyone, including the tricycle, was enthralled.

Bruce

"Instead of landing with a splash, it landed with a...hmm...what rhymes with splash?"

Reading

"Crash!" Once it was pulled up onto the dock, the story rolled on to a happy ending. And then onto part two, the tricycle movie downstairs.

Washing

For part three, we went upstairs and outside to the tricycle parking lot patio.

Washing

It was time to wash the tricycles, even the remarkable one.

Washing

It was splashing fun for everyone, no matter your age.

Tricycle Wash

And you couldn't get a free tricycle book unless you washed the remarkable tricycle.

Amy

Amy Bennett Albert came all the way from Dayton with her children.
Amy brought the book she'd been in twenty-three years ago, Everything Grows, holding her beagle puppy for Bruce, a nice surprise to see her holding the book.

Pat

Pat McDougal came down to say hello, another nice surprise. Her orchard was where I photographed Apples, How They Grow thirty-four years ago.
Everywhere you looked, there was fun, fun, fun.

The wonderfully wet runaway tricycle was a happy clean tricycle.

How was the day? A good time was had by all.

Bruce and Librarians

Retired S.P.L Children's Librarian Joanne Vermette (left), Bruce McMillan (center), and Sheila Dube (right), the current S.P.L. Children's Librarian celebrate a great day at the library.

Services Story Time Become a Member Internet Links