Friends share talents to produce third children's book

Submitted photo

Weld illustrator Kay Whytock Jackson, her granddaughter, Bradie Reynolds, and author Elizabeth Scott, now of Texas, sign books at Touch of Class in Farmington. Scott, a former local postmaster, also served on the board for Touch of Class while she lived in the area. The friends have worked together and published three books this year.

- Submitted photo

WELD — Sharing friendship, similar interests and their talents, a former local postmaster now living in Texas and the treasurer for the town of Weld have just released their third soft-covered children's book.

Writer Elizabeth Scott, former Dryden and East Wilton postmaster, and illustrator Kay Whytock Jackson, Weld's treasurer, have had three books published within the past year, Jackson said.

The first two are part of a series about "Mama Scottie and the Kids," and the third, "Christmas Tree," is based on the true story of Scott as an 8-year-old who trudges through the woods of Brunswick looking for the perfect tree.

An old, stuffed black bear and a moose nobody wanted because its antler flopped were given to Scott by a Maine gift shop owner who intended to throw them out a few years ago, she said. The bear became Lily and the moose was named Murphy. These were soon joined by rag dolls and other stuffed animals that became "the kids" and characters in her books.

Characters in the book learn simple lessons and manners along with concepts such as accepting one another: It's OK to be different because it's what's on the inside that counts, she said. In the first book, "Adventures with Mama Scottie and the Kids," they experience the anxiety of a trip from Texas to Maine. In the second book, they attend a western rodeo.

"I should have been a writer all my life but I had to make a living," Scott said. After working for the postal service in Auburn, Paris and Camden, Scott worked in Dryden in 1988 and then started in East Wilton in 1995, retiring in 2002.

Jackson and Scott became friends sharing similar childhoods spent on Maine farms and other interests including working craft fairs. Jackson showed items from her embroidery, clothing and other products while Scott ran a packing and shipping business, wrapping many items for eBay customers to send, she said.

They have worked together as author and illustrator for several years.

"We collaborate well and feed off each other," Scott said. Almost daily phone calls, faxes and regular visits back and forth keep their work and friendship going.

Jackson started the pair on their next project, a fiction about a young soldier in Iraq, Scott said. Scott is also working on her autobiography.

"Even in high school, I wanted to write down things about growing up, farm life and living off the land," Scott said.

Attendees of a Maine Poetry and Writers Guild workshop, critiqued her work and noted her "unique ability to paint a picture with words," she said.

Scott has pursued a second interest since moving to Texas. She has become a professionally trained clown, known as Kaso the Klown. She has joined a group of clowns that goes into children's hospitals and nursing homes and performs for other events.

"It's a Christian clown group so it's good clean fun," she said.

Jackson now carries drawing notebooks with her sketches featuring her dog and "the kids" set in various poses.

She's done some drawing since school but "life gets in the way and it became something you do for yourself."

Now the Weld mother and grandmother draws with a purpose. She tries first to please herself, then Scott and others, she said.

abryant@sunjournal.com