The C.A. Stephens Day celebration will be observed on Saturday, Aug. 9.

NORWAY – Artist Tina Ambrose has donated to the Friends of C.A. Stephens the 18 original watercolor paintings which were used to illustrate her book, “The Jonah,” originally published by Windswept Press in 1994. Sponsorship of this book was one of the first projects of the friends group when it was formed just over 10 years ago.

“The Jonah” retells C.A. Stephens’ story about the time Hannibal Hamlin visited the old squire’s farm and played the game of finding the evil-tasting “Jonah” pie from among the pastries cooked up by the children that day.

The book is now out of print and has become a collector’s item. The paintings, which depict various scenes from the story, remain true to the period and place of the mid-19th century on Upton Ridge. At the same time, their charming simplicity compliment the author’s style and are particularly appropriate for a 6- to 10-year-old audience for whom the edition was intended.

The present plan of the organization is to make a permanent loan of the works to the Norway Memorial Library. All eighteen works have been mounted and framed for permanent display.

A 30-year resident of Norway, Ambrose and her husband, Skip, recently returned to their home in Kennebunk, where they bought her family’s farm and opened an art gallery in the converted cow barn. The gallery, known as The Oak, is located at 37 Port Road in the lower village section of Kennebunk.

In 1994, Ambrose, along with a number of other Oxford Hills area artists, was also involved in creating the several historical markers which are exhibited annually on C.A. Stephens Day. This year’s celebration will occur on Saturday, Aug. 9. It will begin with a guided bus tour of the sites in South Paris, Norway village and the surrounding countryside which feature prominently in the life and stories of C.A. Stephens. The tour will leave from Norway Memorial Library at 1.

Larry Glatz will focus new attention on Sylvanus Cobb Jr., the earliest of Norway’s several well-known writers, and a man who may have had significant influence upon Charles Asbury Stephens as a young writer in a 7 p.m. program at the Norway Historical Society. Ambrose’s paintings will also be on display that evening.