Student-produced coloring book illustrates Tualatin’s olden days

By Christina Cooke

The Times, Jun 11, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Jaime Valdez / The Times

COLORING BOOK ARTISTS – Hazelbrook Middle School's Rachel Miller,14, holds a coloring book which she and her classmates made in art class in conjunction with the Tualatin Historical Society. The society helped the students make sure that all of the drawings in the book were historically accurate.

TUALATIN — On the pages of the Little Red Schoolhouse coloring book, George feeds the pigs a bucket of slop, Joseph tries to win his friend’s blue marble during recess at school and Effie reads her favorite story by the light of a kerosene lamp.

The 32-page book, titled “Tualatin Kids In the Days of The Little Red Schoolhouse,” was written and illustrated by eighth-graders at Hazelbrook Middle School and published by the Tualatin Historical Society. All fourth graders in Tualatin public schools will receive a copy.

“I want kids to know what life was like back then,” said Loyce Martinazzi, cofounder of the historical society. “Hopefully, kids today will understand that they should take a little responsibility, that they are capable of helping around the house, and they will learn to appreciate the things they have, like a flush toilet and a washer and dryer.”

The project was sponsored by a $2,000 grant from the Cultural Coalition of Washington County and funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Illustrated with pen and ink, the story takes place in the late 19th century and portrays the lives of the Tualatin youth who attended school at the Little Red Schoolhouse. The building, at the corner of Boones Ferry and Avery roads, was used from its construction in 1868 until 1900, when it became too small for the student body.

The pages of the book show children pumping water from wells, milking the cows, gathering eggs from the henhouse, chopping wood for the stove, picking apples for the orchard trees and shoveling manure.

“I was surprised at exactly how much work they did,” said Bailee Johnstone, the eighth-grader who wrote the first page of the book, about three dark-haired sisters springing out of bed and throwing open the curtains. “They had to make most of their food; they walked to school; they farmed; and they fed the animals.”

Bailee said she enjoyed working on the project because it enabled her class to use skills they’ve been practicing all year — specifically, writing in an interesting and engaging way. Plus, she enjoyed seeing the final product.

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