How did you learn to draw a star?  In Mountain Star, Jacksonville’s Ginny Fowler Hicks, a former class room teacher and current principal at Griffin Creek Elementary School, does what she knows teaches best -- she tells and she shows -- taking readers through the construction of a five-pointed star using the metaphor of a man climbing a mountain by hiking up, down, diagonally, across, and returning home. 

The man in the story is Charlie Fowler, Hicks’ brother and renowned environmental scientist, writer, photographer, and mountaineer who blazed trails throughout the craggy Southwest and the steepest Himalayas.  In 2006 Fowler died in an avalanche.  While this book began as a memorial to her brother, Hicks has written a book that stands on its own as a beautifully photographed travel guide and creatively illustrated instruction book.  Fowler’s own photographs, artwork by Anjali Sawant, and Hicks’ writing lead readers to a rewarding ending in which they find new meaning in the universal five-pointed star.

The Ashland Branch Library, 410 Siskiyou Boulevard, is pleased to invite the public to a special presentation on Monday, November 3, 6:30-7:15 p.m. in which Hicks will present the true story behind the book.  This program is very suitable for children.