Crazy Creatures and Squashed Fly Biscuits

Wiltonian Peter Iorfino walked into Saturday afternoon's International Folklore and Fantasy series at the Wilton Library very excited. 

"Are you British?" he asked immediately upon entering the room.  "I like British people a lot!"

"I am!" answered Emma Sutherland, who was leading this weekend's series on England. 

"I want a British accent," the beaming third grader from Cider Mill School added. 

Sutherland, who is half Scottish, was an illustrator for many years, but is now a potter.

"I'm completely obsessed with clay," said the artist.

As a child, she read Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons, which inspired her to be an illustrator.  She entered an art contest that showed her that her creativity was something amazing and unique.  All the other young entrants drew dogs and bunnies and other fluffy creatures, but Sutherland's creature had 7 legs and each leg did a different thing.  She was worried because hers was so different than the other kids, but her originality paid off.  She won the contest.

While reading short stories aloud, Sutherland encouraged the children in attendance on Saturday to pick up the pencils and paper on the tables and draw their own creature. 

"I love them!" Sutherland exclaimed while she took a look around the room at each child's personal interpretation of what a creature is. 

"Go wild with them because this is your creature."

The children in the audience also listened to Sutherland talk about a variety of books she read as a child and they even got a bit of a geography and history lesson.  During the discussion of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Sutherland explained that Camelot was based on a town in England named Cornwall. 

It was quite an interactive discussion with the children, who knew a lot about Great Britain and the climate there. 

"I'm going to live in the South East part of England when I grow up," announced Iorfino, "because it is the sunniest part." 

Sutherland brought a variety of English treats for participants.  A particularly uniquely named treat called squashed fly biscuits, or Garibaldi biscuits, looked a lot like Pop Tarts.  Twiglets with marmite flavoring, jelly dodgers and Bassett's licorice were other goodies up for tasting.  Sutherland even brought a black currant flavored English drink for the kids to try called Ribena. 

"It smells like cranberry," said little Ryan Giancola, who was with his nanny Donie Maddox. 

The children finished up their drawings while munching on snacks.  "Keep drawing and don't stop," said Sutherland.  "We need more creative people in the world." 

The next discussion in the series will be held on March 20 when the children will learn about France. 

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