Towering over Thrifty Auto Supply, the only building separating Midland Library on 122nd Avenue from Mr. Peep’s adult shop, the library’s clock tower marks the passing of minutes on a slow Sunday afternoon.

A large, cardboard elephant beckons from the curb, standing wary guard over some props for the coming event. The elephant appears to be waiting, and try as he may, fails to blend in with his surroundings as well as he does in the book.

The Midland Library is a triumph of modernity. The telltale signs of Multnomah County’s pride in their library system are well apparent, shelves fully stocked with the newest books and rows of occupied computers. The ceiling is painted like abstract art, resembling halved bananas and brown and green compact discs.

This is where Joe Spooner, a part-time cartooning instructor at MHCC, will present his book, “The Elephant Walk,” to any attentive child. He lags casually in the entrance to the library, conversing with Steve Duin, a columnist with The Oregonian.

It is no coincidence that these men are both here; Duin’s book “Father Time,” is what Spooner credits as his big break. “A friend of mine, who works for The Oregonian, was getting a book published and wanted me to do the illustrations for it,” Spooner said. “His publisher asked to look at some samples and this book was in with the samples.”

Although the publisher was not interested in having Spooner illustrate “Father Time,” they did find “The Elephant Walk” noteworthy.

Originally written as a gift for his daughter, Norah, when she was 2, Spooner commonly gave books he had written and illustrated to his children as presents. He had shopped a revised version of “The Elephant Walk” a few years later, but had no luck getting it published then.

Spooner knows the frustration of rejection letters, and recommends those who are shopping their ideas not to take rejection personally. He urges the frustrated not to quit and to keep submitting. If all else fails, “know somebody who’s getting a book published,” he said.

Spooner hopes now that he is published, more children’s books will be in the works. He has begun talks with a publisher about an annotated children’s book that would contain information for adults in the outside columns.

Recognizing the luxury of what he does, Spooner compares his work to being a fourth-grader, “doing what you like and getting paid for it.”

The 20-odd years Spooner has taught at MHCC let him spend plenty of time with his children as they grew up.

“I’m really glad we had kids,” he said. “Although I probably should spend more time working, I was able to do a lot of stuff with the kids.” Spooner worked from home as a cartoonist, trading babysitting time with a neighbor so the Spooner children would not have to be in daycare.

Norah is now 23 and works for a representative in Washington, D.C. Spooner’s other child, John, attends college in Weed, Calif., and plays baseball for the college team.
For around 10 years, Spooner has produced the Mr. Portland cartoon for The Oregonian. It usually appears in the Saturday edition of the paper, often on the front page of the Living section.

He commented that the redesign the paper is going through has caused his cartoon to be moved around and sometimes omitted, but the cartoon is rewarding.

“[I like] having a voice and being heard,” Spooner said. He likes to use his cartoons as a way to “make people stop and think in a different way.”

He also said, “I’ve always enjoyed making people laugh.” He tells his students that drawing is not really the important part. Humor is something Spooner tries to teach by example.

The drawings in “The Elephant Walk” were by far the favorites of the children. In each panel an elephant hides in plain sight, and the children attending the reading delighted in finding the animal.

The popularity of these readings seems to be hit and miss. Spooner said, “If there’s two kids here, that’s twice as many” as came to last weekend’s reading at the Northwest Library.

After rounding up a few children, Spooner had a total of seven to read to. “It’s amazing how powerful begging is,” he said. As more wandered in, another book was opened to display the illustrations.

When Spooner is finished reading the story, he asks if there are any questions about “character development or plot resolution,” which gets a giggle from the adults in attendance. One woman asks, “So, where did you get the idea?”
Spooner replies, “I don’t know.”

Spooner will read “The Elephant Walk” again at the Hollywood Library, 4040 NE Tillamook St., on Tuesday, Nov. 8 from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. Call 503-988-5391 for more information.