While Spokane's Looff Carrousel delights young and old just the way it is, for first-time children's book author Mary Carpenter it was a launchpad for inspiration. "I just thought it would be really neat to have the park come alive," she says. "The Carrousel and the history of the Carrousel is just so magical."
In Ponies in the Park, written by Carpenter and illustrated by Mary Pat Kanaley, a young girl named Grace is disappointed to be stuck in the hospital overnight on her birthday. Unexpectedly though, magic dust, moonlight, and a birthday wish bring the historic Looff Carrousel and other sculptures in the park — the Bloomsday runners, Native salmon fishers, red wagon, garbage goat and a purple butterfly from Expo '74 — to life, and together they help Grace save a puppy in need.
Carpenter received a $10,000 Spokane Arts Grant Award to complete the project. "The money from the grant went to help produce the book, but it also pays for us to give one to every second grade school teacher and elementary school library" in Spokane, Carpenter says. Carpenter and Kanaley also plan to visit classrooms to share not only their writing and illustrating process, but also their love of the park.
The last five pages of Ponies in the Park include a historical timeline of Riverfront Park and background on each art installation. There are also two scavenger hunts — one to do inside the actual park, and one for hidden images in the book itself.
Find Ponies in the Park ($21) at the Looff Carrousel gift shop, Wishing Tree Books, Auntie's Bookstore, Atticus Coffee & Gifts, the Small Biz Shoppe, Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Sacred Heart gift shop, and online at ponies-in-the-park.myshopify.com
