The magic of a child’s imagination

From the mind of a child comes all we see — the mountains, the rivers, the animals and all the fish in the sea.

Jeffersonville resident Lesley Nase is the newly minted author of “Who Paints the World?” — a children’s book she created in collaboration with her daughter.

“Children have fantastic imaginations, and to feel like they are empowered by their imagination to paint their own world, to change their world to what their view is, I think that’s a seed to plant with many children so they have the power to do something in their world, even if it’s just painting or drawing or thinking differently,” Nase said during a recent interview.

The 38-page book — Nase’s first — tells the story of a girl named Hope, who views the world through her bedroom window. Once day, after watching the weather change from stormy to sunny, and then watching the sun set, turning day into night, Hope asks, “Who paints the sky?”

An angelic voice answers Hope, saying, “Why, children paint the sky!”

With each page — revealing mountain, forest, beach and desert vistas, accompanied by the myriad animals who live there — Hope asks who created all of this, to be told by an angelic voice that it was all created by children like her.

Nase said she struggled with publishers over the issue of who would illustrate her book.

“One of the things that really bothered me was this sense — many of them said, ‘We’ll match you up with an illustrator,’” Nase recalled. “At the time, I wasn’t sure an illustrator will come up with the same images I see, so I started looking for other people.”

Nase didn’t have to look far. Her daughter, Rebecca Nase Chomyn, is a graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she studied metal sculpture. However, she is equally adept at watercolors, and her warm tones and bright colors complement her mother’s words.

“I did the artwork while I was pregnant,” Chomyn said. “It was a neat connection that I was pregnant with my daughter while I was working on this with my mom.”

In the end, Nase ended up self-publishing her book through IngramSpark, whose books are available to schools, libraries and bookstores. However, like any self-published author, it’s up to Nase to make sure her book reaches the public.

To that end, Nase has approached numerous independent bookstores throughout the state, such as Northshire Bookstore in Manchester and Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls. Locally, her book is available at Bridgeside Books in Waterbury and Bear Pond Books in Stowe.

“We are very happy to support any Vermont author that comes in,” said Jennifer Hale, owner of Bear Pond Books in Stowe. “A lot of them self-publish their own books and it’s very difficult for them to get their book out there without being represented by a big publishing company, so we always allow them to bring a book in here and display it.

“A lot of the time, they will come in and have an author signing or some sort of event, and we’re very supportive of any Vermonter who wants to do that locally.”

Nase hopes the book will act as a springboard, sparking conversations between children and parents.

“It’s always a good thing when you can talk about a book with a child,” Nase said. “Your imagination is fantastic. Where is it going to take you? Are you going to write? Are you going to be a teacher, a nurse, a doctor? What does that look like? Open yourself up to those possibilities.”