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The Jasper library had a taste of wild last weekend at the launch of Denise Benison鈥檚 debut book, The Day We Went Into The Woods.
More than 60 people went to the special event to hear the Jasper mom-of-two read her book and get a sneak peek of the next one.
鈥淚t was great,鈥� said Benison. 鈥淚t was a bit wild in the kids鈥� section - it was like a library party, it was really cool.鈥�
The Day We Went Into The Woods is a rhyming storybook written and illustrated by Benison.
It tells a story of her two daughters, Charlie-Rose and River, venturing into the woods in the Rocky Mountains.
Benison said she created her watercolour and marker illustrations for the book while her daughters were doing their own arts and crafts.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been pretty cool for them to see it develop,鈥� said Benison.
鈥淚t was great to them to be part of the process.
鈥淚 imagine any book I do will be capturing some part of my children鈥檚 childhood and telling stories that can be told to everybody.鈥�
Benison said when she wrote the book, she aimed to have aspects that an adult would find funny as well as younger readers.
Speaking about the book launch, Benison said: 鈥淭he kids were really engaged with the book and the adults had some good laughs along with me as I read.鈥�
Also on the day, Paula Klassen from library hosted a woodland creature puppet craft and Coco's Craft supplied cookies with decorations to match the book's illustration.
And Benison read a story from the book she is working on next, The Displaced Adventures of Bun-Bun the Time Travelling Bun-Bot.
The Day We Went Into the Woods is available locally at Tekarra Color Lab and Friends of Jasper, and can be found online at Amazon and Chapters Indigo.
