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player ready...Artist Maria DeCaprio Sunta was visiting Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville, Wisconsin, which featured a storybook walk exhibit of Eric Carle’s children’s book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” when she was struck by an idea.
“I thought, where do we have such things in Palos Heights?” said DeCaprio Sunta.
She brought the idea home, where it turned out they had everything they needed to recreate a children’s book at Lake Katherine Nature Center and Botanic Gardens, including the story “Little Turtle Gets Lost,” by the late Jean Gnap, a longtime bookstore owner and City Council member in Palos Heights.
The story with colorful pictures is about a turtle who doesn’t appreciate his home at Lake Katherine, leaves and then realizes it was the best place for him after all. It seemed the perfect fit because Gnap was devoted to the community and set the story at Lake Katherine, which she adored.
“We knew we wanted to use the children’s area and felt this was the perfect connection,” said DeCaprio Sunta, who lives in Palos Heights and chairs the city’s Public Arts Commission. “It’s subtly exposing children to the arts in a beautiful nature setting and the message of the book is all about taking time to appreciate nature.
“Children don’t have that enough because they’re so tied to electronics, so we thought this would be a very appropriate story to try to teach our children and community.”
Fellow commission members Lynda Schiappa, Vanessa Sunta, Kathy Peters and Sue DeKokert embraced the idea.
Gnap wrote several other books, including “Will Old Rusty Ever Get to Go to the Classic Car Show” and “The Puppy Who Wanted to be a Boy.”
DeCaprio Sunta and DeKoker brought the Little Turtle to life in the Lake Katherine exhibit with fiberglass covered with a colorful mosaic and then covered with grout to protect it from the elements. There are also nine plywood panels that illustrate the story, painted by artist Victoria Lanz with the help of DeCaprio Sunta.
“It was fun because we just kind of freelanced how we were going to use the colors (on the turtle) and collaborated with each other,” said DeKoker. “I think it encourages families getting outdoors.”
DeKoker also said the exhibit pays respect to the author.
“She was so involved in Palos Heights for so long, and was a really nice lady. So it was nice to do something in tribute to her,” DeKoker said.
Diann Pavlatos walked the exhibit recently with her grandson, who asked her why the turtle would want to leave.
“Well, you know, sometimes people think it’s nicer somewhere else and don’t really appreciate what they have,” Pavlatos explained, saying the exhibit had created an opportunity for “a teaching moment.”
Gnap, who died in 2018, was a science teacher and then a City Council member for 10 years, known in the community for owning Best Sellers bookstore for 33 years. She was also active on a number of city committees and other community roles, including in the Chamber of Commerce, VFW Post 7454 Woman’s Auxiliary and Lake Katherine.
Paul Gnap, one of Gnap’s three children, said he was honored the artists chose her book.
“It’s really special for our family, just to know she was appreciated,” Gnap said. “All she did was things for the people and the younger generation.
“The city was like another kid.”
Gnap said Lake Katherine was one of his mother’s passions, and she always encouraged the whole family to go there.
“We donated her remaining books to Lake Katherine, so they could take the proceeds,” he said. “Because that’s what she really wanted — to be a part of Lake Katherine and help.”
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The Arts Commission hopes to install a new children’s exhibit in the spring and continue the tradition each year.
The commission is also holding a Lights in the Heights exhibit from Nov. 25 through the first week of January 2023 at Community Park, 76th Avenue and Route 83.
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.