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"From the time I made my first contacts to the time I got the book out, it took around nine months," she explained. "I often joke that it was like having a baby." Leuthold, a local substiâ€" tute teacher, recently celeâ€" brated the release of her first children‘s book of poems, called Flutterbys. ike most expectant I women, _ Elizabeth Leuthold waited nine months to welcome a new addition into her houseâ€" hold. It came with over 80 pages of pictures and words, chalked full of memories and inspiration. + And the outcome couldâ€" n‘t have been more surprisâ€" ing â€" especially to the author, Leuthold admitted. "When I was young, Engâ€" lish was my poorest subâ€" ject," she said. "I remember one of my teachers asking me to write a poem. Well, I couldn‘t write a poem to save my soul." But with age comes experience, and Leuthold said she managed to comâ€" pile a lifetime‘s worth of thoughts and arrange them in a special way. "Before we moved to Waterloo last August, we lived in Elmira, out in the country," she explained. "My neighbourhood was fairly closeâ€"knit. But her bundle of joy didn‘t come with two arms, two legs and a healthy cry. "When one of my neighâ€" bours moved away a couple years ago, I wrote her a poem. After that, 1 was asked to write a poem for many different occasions." Local educator celebrates the release of her first children‘s book Flutterbys By Anorra Baiey Chronicle Staff Leuthold then decided to share some of her work with her students. Elizabeth Leuthold has recently published Flutterbys, her first children‘s book of poems. ENDNEL EnAEYPNSIC "After reading the poems to them, 1 thought, ‘Why don‘t 1 write for them, too,"" she recalled. Leuthold began gatherâ€" ing topics from her classes, trying to determine the ARTS FOCUS And, to her delight, there was no shortage of ideas. "They wanted to hear about everything, from scary poems to stories about pets and sports," she said. most popular subject mat ter. _ "After I‘d write one, I‘d read it and ask, ‘Is it a keepâ€" AMDAEA BAILEY PHOTO er?" They‘d all say ‘Yeah, read another and another.‘" It wasn‘t long before Leuthold had written 100 children‘s poems, about almost everything under â€" and including â€" the sun. "A Grade 2 student sugâ€" gested I write a book and put all the poems together," Leuthold said. "The idea for My Spaceâ€" ship was inspired by my son. When he was about three years old, he took a cardboard box into the backyard and pretended it was a spaceship. When he was in the box, my husband came up from behind, picked up the box and startâ€" ed swaying it back and forth. When he put it down, "The students enjoyed them so much they asked me for copies of the poems," she said. _ And that‘s when the idea struck. "I couldn‘t believe the thought had never occurred to me. I guess little kids are the experts." a But, where to start? "It was very frightening at first," she said. "I didn‘t know anything about pubâ€" lishing a book." By a stroke of luck, Leuthold ran into Linda Brubacher, a woman she‘d worked with years earlâ€" ier who had a flair for drawing. "I asked her to illustrate my book, and it worked out perfectly," Leuthold said. "All of the poems were inspired by my students, as well as the experiences of my own two children," Leuthold said. The finished product, she said, has become a classroom favourite. Continued on page 13 Pulling out all the stops â€" that‘s exactly what Jan Overduin will be doing this Sunday evening in uptown Wateroo. Overduin, music director at First United Church, and guest soloist Matthew Jones (recorder) will present a benefit concert at 8 p.m. entitled Just Pipes, with proâ€" ceeds.going towards restoration and improvements to the church‘s 40â€"yearâ€"old Hallman organ. There are signs of major deterioration of most of the functional components of the organ {couplers, keys, pistons, windchests, swell boxes). A very active committee is looking at various options of how to deal with the "organ problem®". Fundraising efforts are F underway including the 7 benefit concert featuring $ Overduin and Jones. / < _ mm | "First United Church is a church that values its music ministry, of which the organ is an important part," says Overduin. "Some of the stops sound so bad that they cannot be pulled at all, while others are so unreliable that pulling them may or may not have any effect on the sound whatsoever." As well as serving as F4 " +*~* / 9 music director at First [2 ~ United. Overduin heads | BÂ¥ ,6 the Church Music proâ€" gram at Wilfrid Laurier University and is in great demand as organ soloist r in concerts lscallv and !an OYer‘!“'“ internationally. At the First United Church April 7 concert, Overduin music director will be joined by recorder virtuoso Jones, a WLU faculty of music alumnus and current conductor of the Timâ€" mins Symphony Orchestra. Jones has served as associâ€" ate conductor of the Georgian Bay Symphony, assisâ€" tant conductor to the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Symphony‘s Senior Youth Orchestra, and guest conductor for the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Community Orchestra and the Wilfrid Laurier Symphony. He has been the featured soloist of the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Symphony, the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Chamber Players and the Wilfrid Laurier Symphony among others. Tickets for Sunday‘s concert at $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors, available at the door. First United Church is located at the corner of King and Williams. The duo has been frequently featured on radio, especially CBC, and in 1995 recorded a CD of baroque music, Just Pipes. _ help restore church‘s pipe organ _ Benefit concert will Gol_lg ers Jos" TravefPlus 234 King St. S., Watcrloo ncommer ol King St & L noon S ww w.goUrav e 5C 9 : 12. ciran: T41â€"0770 lplus.com