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May 03, 2012 | Luke Blount

Houston Chronicle Highlights Retired Priest's Children's Book

Martin in the Narthex

 

In the December issue of Diolog Magazine, we told you about "Martin in the Narthex," a children's book written by the Rev. Dick Elwood, a retired priest in the Diocese of Texas. Now, the Houston Chronicle went deeper, telling the story of Riley Cohn, a young girl with Asberger's syndrome who illustrated the book. 

 

 

From the Chronicle:

 

 

Martin is an Australian shepherd with one blue eye and one brown eye. For more than four years, he served as official greeter at St.Barnabas Episcopal Church in this Hill Country town.

 

Riley Cohn is a girl with Asperger's syndrome. She struggles to find the words she needs, but from an early age used detailed drawings to communicate, to make herself understood.

 

One day, her mother read a story about Martin by his owner, the Rev. Richard Elwood, and told it to Riley, an animal lover who often plays with her family's eight dogs.

 

Riley took on the task of creating colorful, cartoonlike illustrations to go with Elwood's words. She drew and drew during the summer of 2010, getting paid by her mom with ice-cream outings at the Clear River Pecan Company.

 

She depicted the brown-and-white Martin riding in Elwood's gray 2006 Mini Cooper, as he was often spotted by Fredericksburg residents. She showed him surrounded by children and herding parishioners.

Read more at Chron.com.