I’d like to dedicate this to my Uncle John for helping think of ways to change my book.

One icy cold afternoon in Alaska, Mother and Pup fur seal are peacefully lurking in the deep blue sea. As time goes by, the sky gets darker and darker. Mother and Pup live in an abandoned igloo. The two seals have been living in that igloo for a long time.

Mother is giving swimming lessons to Pup. Pup is on top of mother’s back and they are both paddling. Pup loses his balance and slips into the deep and darkening water with a big splash. His nostrils help him hold his breath and his flippers save him. After a long day, Mother and Pup decide to go to sleep in the icy cold igloo. Mother and Pup have thick fur to keep them warm.

As the freezing night is ending, a Coast Guard arrives in a chopper. He is sent to find a fur hunter who is killing fur seals illegally. The Coast Guard snatches his flashlight and sneaks out on the ice to look for fur hunters. Suddenly he hears a noise in the distance. He finds a suspect sneaking up on the fur seals. Mother and Pup wake from the noise of the chopper and they are terrified at what they see: a strange man with a large knife! They shiver in fear.

The Coast Guard puts the man’s arms behind his back and handcuffs him. The Coast Guard calls the chopper and takes him away from the fur seals. The sky gets lighter and lighter, but the fur seals are tired from the scary, loud night. Now they can finally sleep in peace.

About the Author

In 2001 a boy named Ben was born. At age three he became skilled at monkey bars and has gotten better each year. He is athletic, and especially likes basketball. He thinks the greatest thing about third grade was making this book. Hi, my name is Ben Faherty. I am the author of this book, Fur Seal’s Adventure. I’m eight years old. I have two big brothers, Kenny and Robbie, and one “younger sister”. She’s a cat. I live in Watertown, MA.

This is one of the many books that came to life while students in Mrs.

Mattson’s 3rd grade class explored the rich relationship between visual

imagery and the written word. This book was created as a part of Image-

Making Within the Writing Process, a dynamic art-and-literature-based

approach to writing developed by Beth Olshansky at the University of New

Hampshire. Image-Making uses hand-painted textured papers as the raw

materials for creating collage stories and poetry. Unlike a more traditional

writing process, within Image-Making the pictures always come first. This

offers students with diverse learning styles essential visual and kinesthetic

tools for rehearsing, drafting, and revising their ideas long before setting

pencil to paper. Image-Making was validated by the US Department of

Education as an “innovative and effective literacy program” in 1993. Today

children around the world use this process to create books in many

languages.

Spring, 2010