“It’s not every day that you see an opossum that is a Shakespearean Actor.”
A large group of Anna K. Davie students sat enthralled in the school’s media center on Thursday afternoon as former Governor Nathan Deal spoke those words with a deep resonating voice bringing the character of Percival the possum to life.
Deal told the kids stories from his newest venture - a children’s book “Veto, The Governor’s Cat”. The time at Anna K. Davie was one of several stops Deal made throughout Rome on Thursday which also included Rotary and a stop to sign books on Broad Street.
The book is based on Deal’s own cat Veto, but it also involves quite a bit of imagination from the former governor whose eyes light up when you ask him about it.
“It was a lot of fun writing the book. When I gave myself the license to use my imagination, it got to be even more fun,” he said. “My purpose is to try to pick out animals or birds that can convey a message to children.”
One of the ways Deal does this is to bring the characters to life with unique voices and mannerisms as he speaks dialogue.
“I take a quote from Aristotle that says, ‘To educate the mind and not educate the heart is no education at all.’ My book is intended to educate the mind and allow children to learn how to pronounce words and to read,” Deal said. “But it is also to educate their heart by sending a message that all of us need to learn. That is to be nice to each other. You can have friends that don’t look like you or act like you but you can still be friends. Those are important messages, and I hope this book conveys that.”
Deal’s wife Sandra, who passed away a couple of years ago, spent lots of time reading to schools and supporting literacy efforts. During her time as First Lady of Georgia, she read to schoolchildren in every county in Georgia and in all 181 school districts. Deal sees his book and his reading to the students on Thursday as a way of honoring her legacy.
“My wife Sandra was truly the inspiration for this book. It is dedicated to her and the importance of literacy to her,” he said. “She is the heart and soul of this book.”
As Deal told stories from the book and took questions from the students his own passion for literacy and his new endeavor showed. Students laughed and enjoyed the time with the former governor. The group at Anna K. Davie was also a big first for Deal.
Until Thursday afternoon, he hadn’t gotten a chance to tell stories from the book in front of a large audience.
“This is the first large group of children I’ve had the opportunity to read to. I was very pleased that they all seemed to be attentive. That’s a good thing for an author to realize that maybe what he’s put on paper will inspire children to want to learn to read,” he said. “I hope kids can take some lessons from the book too, like being nice to each other and learning to get along.”
Another interesting thing about Deals’ book is that local artist Cheryl Riner Hodge illustrated it.
“We’ve been friends with the Deals for a while. The governor had looked at other options but apparently, I was the one who came up with the right concept of what he envisioned for the book,” she said. “It was such a fun process. Governor Deal is so passionate about his book and just a delight to work with. It was a true joy.”
Although she illustrated the book there is one thing that Riner Hodge hasn’t gotten to do yet.
“I’ve never actually met Veto although I feel like I have,” she said. “I hope to do that sooner rather than later”
Deal’s passion for the book and for bringing the characters to life which included unique voices for each one brought lots of smiles to the student’s faces.
Toward the end of his story, he stopped and looked at the children. He encouraged them to read the book but told them that they needed to make sure to bring the characters to life and that if they read the book out loud to be sure to use the right voices.
Without missing a beat, he switched back into the deep resonance of Percival saying, “It’s only right to give a Shakespearian trained opossum his due.”