THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140261
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 37 lines
Shelley Gill, one of the first women to successfully run the Iditarod - the dog sled race across 1,130 miles of Alaskan wilderness - will share her adventures this week with audiences in Franklin and Southampton County.
Gill, a Florida native, has been a reporter, editor, accomplished stone mason, and successful author and lecturer.
Inspired by her experience in the 1978 Iditarod and her love of the Alaskan people and cultures, Gill wrote a series of children's books that are both whimsical and environmentally accurate.
Years ago, Gill became aware that few children's books had any real relevance to Alaskan children. So she set out to create stories about Arctic animals, Alaskan folklore and Eskimo culture that would appeal to older students and adults as well as the younger children for whom they were written.
``You can't patronize children,'' she said. ``They are excellent judges of good and bad, and there's so much out there that's not good.''
Since 1984, Gill has published four books and several curriculum guides focusing on Alaska. Her 1987 ``Alaska Mother Goose'' led the Christmas sales charts for children's books that year, outselling venerable favorites like ``Peter Rabbit'' and stories by Dr. Seuss.
Gill will bring hundreds of Alaskan slides as well as a polar bear tooth, grizzly bear claw, and a leg bone from a woolly mammoth when she visits Southampton Middle School and Southampton Academy Wednesday. Teachers at both schools have woven Alaskan history and culture into the curriculum in preparation for Gill's visit.
Adults and students from other schools can hear Gill Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Ruth Camp Campbell Library, 208 N. College Drive, Franklin.
For more information, call Jane Puckett, Southampton County Schools, (757) 653-2692.