NEW YORK CITY – November 30, 2010 – Thanksgiving isn’t just for eating turkey – interfaith groups and embassies across the country celebrated the holiday by promoting a message of tolerance and understanding. Author Cynthia Gustavson’s new picture book, Ballad of the Rag Man, illustrates for children the value of this acceptance and compassion.
Clothed in rags, the Rag Man gathers cast-off items that others don’t find valuable. He walks through the streets of his little town with a cart, collecting treasures to bring home in heaps. Nothing escapes his attention. To him, nothing is junk. A little girl watches the Rag Man from a distance as he takes her old teddy bear and she wonders what will happen to her well-worn toy. Much to her surprise, the Rag Man repairs her teddy bear and brings it back to her. From the story, children learn a valuable lesson about prejudice.
This book supports the Rag Man Project – a program that brings college students and young adults into bookstores, libraries, schools and hospitals to teach children about those in society who, whether they have disabilities, are homeless or simply don’t act like everyone else, are different. Cynthia will be signing copies of Ballad of the Rag Man as well as copies of her collection of poetry, Please Use This for Children, Not War and Guns, on Sunday, December 5 at the 21st Street Borders from 3-5 p.m. in Tulsa, OK.
Ballad of the Rag Man, written by Cynthia Gustavson with illustrations by Kristina Tosic, is available in hardcover (ISBN 978-1933918-42-6) by Blooming Twig Books and can be found on www.amazon.com. For more information please visit the book web site www.cynthiagustavson.com.
About the author:
Cynthia Blomquist Gustavson is the award-winning author of five poetry collections and several workbooks for therapists, and has been published in numerous journals. She has a family therapy practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she resides with her husband of 40 years, a pediatrician who all too frequently takes care of neglected children.
Visit www.cynthiagustavson.com for more information.
