Patrice Sherman
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John Banvard Paints the Mississippi: A Story about the Artist who Brought the Beauty of America to the World

​John Banvard arrived in Louisville, Kentucky, carrying a bundle of clothes, a packet of drawing paper, and a handful of brushes, pencils, and pens.  It was 1830 and Louisville was a bustling frontier city filled with trappers, traders, farmers, carpenters, hat makers, doctors, lawyers, peddlers, riverboat men, and banjo players. But not artists. John was fifteen years old.  He wanted to be an artist, but he wasn't sure what he wanted to paint. Until he saw the Mississippi, that is. But how do you paint an entire river? And what do you do once you have a picture a half-mile long...

                                                                                                                                                                                                Read the story...

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Sarah & Caesar: A Story Based on the Life of the Actress Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah loved everything about her convent school. She loved the garden and the orchard and the high stone walls that surrounded them. Most of all she loved the gardener's dog Caesar. In fact, she loved everything about school, except, well, school. Whenever one of her teaches asked her what was 2 +2 or who was emperor of France, her mouth would go dry. Her lips would move but she couldn't say a word. "The poor child," the nuns would whisper. "She can't remember a thing." But when Sarah learns that the class is going to present a play for a visiting bishop, she wants a role more than anything.  How can she act if she can't even speak? With the help of Caesar, however, she just might find a way to pursue her dream....

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Read the story...