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A West Point Author Teaches Environmentalism with a New Twist
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When Teresa Pistole’s sister emailed her asking if she could get her son to draw a picture of a duck blowing bubble gum, she responded the way most people probably would, “Yeah, but why?”
The answer to this question would lead Teresa to write her first children’s book, Bubble Duck which was published (along with a second story, Bubble Duck Does Hockey) by Richmond’s Brandylane Publishers, Inc.
Vicky, Teresa’s sister, explained that she’d had some family friends come visit and they brought along their son, three-year-old Reynolds. One day during their stay, Reynolds, his father, and Vicky’s husband were driving in the car and Reynolds was chewing a piece of bubblegum he’d been given. This was the first time Reynolds had tried gum and he didn’t like it so he gave it to his dad. His dad threw the gum out the car window and Reynolds told him that he wasn’t supposed to do that. Vicky’s husband, Ron, suggested that maybe a duck would come and find the gum and he’d be called Bubble Duck. According to Teresa, “The whole thing was basically trying to get Dad off the hook.” But there was more to it than that. There was an underlying environmental message, that Reynolds had drawn attention to, and that Teresa would latch onto for her book.
When Reynolds returned to Vicky’s home in West Point, Virginia for his family’s next visit he asked, “Where’s Bubble Duck?” That was why Vicky emailed Teresa requesting a picture of a duck with gum.
Teresa’s son, Alex, who was fifteen at the time, enjoyed drawing pictures on the computer. Alex agreed, and when Teresa saw the picture, she was impressed and decided that if Alex drew a few more pictures, she would type up the story. This wasn’t exactly new to Teresa who had been a stay-at-home mom. Sometimes they would make homemade books about things that had happened during the day, and the kids would draw the pictures, then, when computers arrived on the scene, they started using the Paint program to draw. Years had passed since then, and as a teenager, Teresa had to give Alex a little extra motivation. “I probably ended up having to bribe him with something—maybe a CD. He liked rap at the time so I think he probably earned about six rap CDs.” She points out that evidence of this can be seen in the pictures for the second Bubble Duck story, Bubble Duck Does Hockey. Bubble Duck’s jersey has the letters “RAP” written on the front.
In Bubble Duck, the story doesn’t end when Ron tells Reynolds that a duck might find the gum. In the book, a duck does find the gum, he blows a bubble with it, and it pops all over his beak. Bubble Duck then puts the gum where it belongs: “He was a kind duck, too. He made sure it landed in a trash can.” Teresa believes it’s important that children learn about protecting the environment at a young age. “The answer to litter is to educate the children. Once their generation learns, then it will be passed down,” Teresa says.
Teresa hoped that Bubble Duck’s environmental message would come across to children without much explanation from their parents. Parents have told her how their kids love reading Bubble Duck and, after a reading at a daycare, she was told that later in the day a little girl from the reading saw trash outside and told her mother it wasn’t supposed to be there. “I think that kids really do get the message,” Teresa says, “that when we throw things out it really can hurt animals.”
Teresa holds readings a few times a year and when she visits schools, she doesn’t only sit down and read the story. She also teaches students trivia about ducks, has written a Bubble Duck related jump rope song, and brings in a Bubble Duck costume sewn by her friend Donna. Teresa usually visits kindergarten classes and the teacher will find an older, second grade student who is willing to wear the costume. “You can still see the shoes underneath the yellow duck feet that go over their sneakers, so the children try to figure out who it is.” “Bubble Duck” passes out stickers and pictures for the kindergarteners to color.
Teresa hasn’t published any work since Bubble Duck, but she writes poems, which, like the books she made with her children, are about things that happen around her home in St. Stephen’s Church, Virginia. She wrote a poem about a bird she nicknamed “Old Charlie” that didn’t stick with his flock. She wrote one about a frog that was living in a flower pot in her yard. “And then there was a goat. Just little things like that,” Tere says, adding that she enjoys writing in a simple style.
And as for Alex, he kept drawing, but in the Army’s airborne unit. Alex returned from serving in Afghanistan last fall and in the service he draws pictures of tattoos at other soldiers’ request that they can take to tattoo artists. “Of course we always wanted him to go to art school,” Teresa says.
Teresa has readings coming up at schools in King and Queen County and Richmond County. She would like if Bubble Duck would be accepted into a school system to help children learn about littering. “It’s really a problem and really sad to see. If we teach children today they won’t let that be a problem… I think America really needs to take a step up in not littering and in taking care of our country.” Bubble Duck started because of a little boy that knew littering was wrong, and now the story of Bubble Duck can help teach other children the same. pl
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