ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 18, 1997 TAG: 9702180077
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ANGIE WATTS STAFF WRITER
"These books have secrets in there," one youngster at Margaret Beeks Elementary School whispered to some kindergartners. "Secrets."
The Blacksburg school was abuzz last week over more than just the prospect of another snow day. Ralph Masiello, a children's book illustrator, was coming for a visit and the students had high hopes, based on a September 1995 visit by Masiello's writing partner, the nationally known children's author Jerry Pallotta.
Known for such favorites as "The Icky Bug Alphabet Book" and "The Yucky Reptile Alphabet Book," this duo has become part of everyday schooling at Beeks.
Masiello, known to most children as simply the Icky Bug Man, (which is much easier for them to pronounce than Masiello) greeted the two assemblies of children in hopes of promoting literacy, artwork and fun.
It wasn't long after the groups were seated in the cafeteria that Masiello began to work his magic, mesmerizing the youngsters for nearly an hour. This one-man comedy machine had the children eeeewing and aaaawing, laughing and giggling. All the while he was teaching, too.
"Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?" Masiello hollered to the crowd of squirming youngsters, each trying to be the first to raise his or her hand in the air and catch Masiello's attention. "My kindergarten teacher said I was going to be an artist, but I didn't think I could draw. I wanted to be a brain surgeon so I could take off the top of someone's head and look at their brains."
"Eeeeeeeew," they responded.
"Then when I turned 16 I decided I wanted to be a marine biologist."
All true stories. Masiello explained to the young crowd that the reason he wanted to be a marine biologist was because he liked to dissect things, drawing another round of loud eeeeeeews from the children. He said he would draw the dissections instead of just taking notes on them, thinking the pictures were for his eyes only.
"Then one day one of my classmates took my notebook and had the art teacher look at it," Masiello said. "And you know what, my kindergarten teacher was right."
The revelation sent Masiello up the East Coast from the University of Tampa to the Rhode Island School of Design, and into the world of illustration.
"It's wonderful for the children to hear him talk about being a kid and not thinking he was good at art," said Kathy Turnauer, the school's art teacher who was as enthralled with Masiello as her students. "He emphasizes how the first one you do is not the final, but you have to keep practicing and practicing."
Masiello began his illustrating career in 1985, working on everything from sports and medical magazines and adult fiction book covers to greeting cards. But it was an encounter in 1987 that would eventually change his life forever.
Ralph Masiello met Jerry Pallotta.
"As soon as we met I knew we were going to be the best of friends," Masiello said. "I'd tell a joke and he'd laugh, and it was like, 'You get it too? You have the same sense of humor I do?' I guess that's why we're so good with kids. We're both extremely serious about what we do, but why have a bad time while you're doing it?"
During Pallotta's trip to Margaret Beeks in 1995, he entertained the children with tales of his and Masiello's six books together. What Pallotta left out in his visit, Masiello filled in.
"Did the bald guy show you the Mickey Mouse ears on the cactus on the back cover of 'The Yucky Reptile Book,'" asked Masiello, who affectionately referred to Pallotta as "the bald guy" throughout the assemblies.
In a joke, Masiello had drawn what looks like the famous ears of Disney's most beloved character as the top portion of the cactus. It was hidden ... a secret. That was the beginning of many more hidden treasures in the duo's alphabet and counting treasures.
"Because I did that with the Mickey Mouse ears he made me put my girlfriend's name in the book," Masiello said, pointing out the 'Dawn & Ralph' heart hidden in the tree bark on the 'U' page. "And because so many people saw it and told her about it, I had to marry her!"
Masiello showed off a few more of the books' hidden secrets, including disguised portraits of Elvis, "the king" - and Pallotta, "the bald guy."
In their newest endeavor together, "The Skull Alphabet Book," due out later this year, Pallotta announced to the children that he was going to hide portraits of every president of the United States somewhere in the book's pages, but the names of the former presidents would not be found.
"It was my idea because I think kids need to know more about the presidents," Masiello said. "And they love finding things. I figure if they get stuck on a page and think something is hidden there, they'll keep looking at it and learn more. Once they find the pictures, then I hope they go to the library and find out who it is."
Masiello said he visits nearly 200 schools each year - everything from elementary schools to colleges - and said Virginia rates with Michigan and Pennsylvania among his most visited areas. Masiello said he attributes that to the emphasis on literacy in each of those states.
"The main thing I want them to learn is that even a person that draws pictures for a living has to be able to read," Masiello said. "It's all integrated ... everything that we do, everything that we learn - it all comes around and blends together."
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. 1. Ralph Masiello, a nationally knownby CNBillustrator of children's books, speaks to a group of fifth-graders
at Margaret Beeks Elementary School in Blacksburg Thursday. Ralph
Masiello shows the kids a model of an anteater skull, part of his
animal skull model collection he uses as models for his animal
illustrations. color.