Elementary students illustrate state book

“A State that made a Nation Great” is a book created by a Churchill County School District teacher and illustrated by elementary students to help children understand the importance Nevada played in creating the nation.

Linda Rasmussen, a fourth-generation Nevadan, has taught elementary school for more than 18 years. She is a second-grade teacher at Numa Elementary School.

“This book all started when one year a member of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s cabinet came to my classroom and read to my students,” Rasmussen said. “I then realized that there was not a children’s book with factual information about how Nevada helped secure our nation … so I began to write.”

Rasmussen said her goal was to have elementary-aged children across America realize the role that Nevada played in passing the 13th Amendment and winning the Civil War.

A contest was held last spring to see which elementary students from Churchill County would be illustrating the book; each student was asked to submit an illustration.

Rasmussen and her husband, Corey, decided to publish the book themselves in order for it to be ready for Nevada’s 150 birthday.

Fernando Rollano is the graphic designer behind the pages. He is originally from Uruguay, but moved to the U.S. in 2002 to pursue his dream of becoming a professional graphic artist. He does graphic design for apparel, comic books, children books and hard goods.

“I took the students art work and worked on the book for almost three weeks,” Rollano said. “I was excited to work on this project with the students and Linda. This is such a great book and the work the students put into it is incredible, their passion and denotation really showed.”

There were 16 students that were selected to design pages for the book. Because the students did such great work and worked hard on their illustrations, Rasmussen held a pizza party for them with Mayor Ken Tedford Jr. as a special guest. The pizza was donated by the Pizza Barn.

Tedford said he thinks the book is wonderful, with an honest description of the importance of Nevada.

“I purchased a book just to keep it in my office,” Tedford said. “This is really an important book because of the history being told in it. A lot of people don’t know anything about where they live and how it became a state. This book allows children the opportunity to learn about their state and the great history behind how it became a state. It not only tells a great story but the illustrations done by the children are incredible too.”

A few of the student who participated illustrating the book were excited to be apart of the project.

RayAnn Rasmussen designed the title page of the book.

“It feels cool to do a book,” Rasmussen said. “No one gets to do that so it was neat to be able to do it. I love art so it was fun for me and I want to continue to do art in the future.”

Callie Bateman designed page seven of the book.

“I thought it would be fun to be able to draw a page for the book,” Bateman said. “It was a lot of fun and my parents were very proud of me.”

For information to purchase a book or to donate one to a school visit, www.thestatethatmadeanationgreat.com.