Graphic designer puts skills into children’s book

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Graphic designer puts skills into children’s book

by Brooke Kenny | Staff Writer

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In her debut children’s book, ‘‘The Dreamer & The Moon,” Olney resident Irene Zevgolis writes about the importance of persistence, even when perfection is a distant dream and doubt is a pervasive reality.

The book, aimed at 4- through 9-year-olds, is about a young girl who dreams of getting into a children’s ballet company. But Tara is constantly making mistakes her ballet instructor must correct. A visit from the personification of a supernatural moon helps Tara learn she can achieve her goals by working hard and believing in herself. She also comes to realize that her teacher is helping her become her best.

The 32-page narrative is illustrated with large, colorful pictures created by Zevgolis, who has been a graphic designer for nearly 25 years and now owns a graphic design company.

The experiences Zevgolis and her daughter had as ballet dancers inspired the story. She felt that ballet was an appropriate setting because it requires great strength, dexterity, discipline and concentration.

‘‘It’s a very pure art form,” Zevgolis says. ‘‘I think it is one of the most beautiful art forms that exists in this life as we know it.”

But ballet can be frustrating: Taking constructive criticism and using it to become a better dancer isn’t an easy process.

‘‘It hurt my feelings and it was very difficult to overcome,” Zevgolis recalls.

Children often don’t realize how hard they have to work to make their dreams come true.

‘‘A child will tend to feel that they are being picked out from everyone and corrected,” she observes.

The project has been a long time coming. Zevgolis first had the idea for the story in the late 1980s, then copyrighted the story idea in 1991. She did not begin to bring the book to life until 2004.

Zevgolis said that as she watched her daughter, now 13, grow, she became the model for the main character.

‘‘It’s almost like I saw an image of my daughter before I even had her,” she said.

Zevgolis said she decided to self-publish The Dreamer & The Moon after submitting the manuscript to publishers and getting a number of rejections.

‘‘I just felt like, as an unknown, I couldn’t tap into that market,” she said.

Zevgolis would consider writing a sequel to ‘‘The Dreamer & The Moon,” but in the meantime, hopes this book will inspire children to believe in their dreams. But, she insists, they need to be persistent in their hard work.

‘‘Faith alone is not enough to make a dream come true,” she says.

The official release date for ‘‘The Dreamer & The Moon” is April 30. It will be available for purchase for $9.95 at www.thedreamerandthemoon.com.