Local Authors Series – Elaine Beem Robinson

Note this author reading will be held in the children’s department Story Woods Room.

Elaine Robinson will read from her illustrated poetic story, Uncommon Scents, which tells the tale of Marvin, a polite but bullied and lonely little muskrat, who lives in a forest where all the other animals are smarter, swifter, and more talented than he is. At least that’s what Marvin thinks. But then Marvin meets a brand-new friend who helps him realize just how gifted a modest little muskrat really is. This illustrated story is a tribute to bullied little critters everywhere—those with four feet, or six feet, or even only two feet.

Elaine Beem Robinson

An author and illustrator, Elaine was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and moved to Florida as a child. She holds a BS from the Florida Institute of Technology and a MS from the University of Florida. As a young person, she was advised against pursuing a career in the arts and instead was directed into the unforgivingly complex world of physics, biochemistry, and molecular biology, where flights of fancy are actively discouraged. Many years followed at the University of Florida working as a research microbiologist, where she contributed to the plethora of articles written on the misdeeds of bacteria. Now retired, she is free to write about and draw a world of her own invention, a world of utter fiction, generally told in the form of children’s poetry. She lives in Gainesville, Florida, along with husband Ron, Snuffy the Schnauzer, and several retired racehorses who reside in the backyard and are not asked to do much else.

Uncommon Scents

Of all the animals in the forest, Marvin Muskrat was the poorest, the lowliest and the saddest, too  All the other animals picked on him because they were smarter, swifter, and more courageous than he was. Leastways, that’s what Marvin believed. But was it really true?

With the help of a brand-new friend, Marvin Muskrat learned just how special he really was. This illustrated story, told in verse, is a tribute to all the bullied little critters everywhere—those with four feet, or six feet, or even only two feet.