A roomful of fidgety second graders fell silent when wilderness author Tim Caverly started the ghostly tale of a 150-year-old lumberjacks’ boarding house along the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.
When he writes, it’s like having a movie playing in his mind, Caverly told the group at Houlton Elementary School.
“I try to write so you can read a passage and close your eyes and picture what you are reading,” he said during a recent student session about his writing process.
Caverly, along with wife Susan Caverly, just released his 15th book, “The Allagash: A Hard Road to Wilderness.” And as part of their 16-year effort to encourage literacy and get kids reading and writing, they have shared Maine wilderness stories with thousands of New England students.
Through their “New England Reads” literacy project, the Caverlys and book illustrator Frank Manzo Jr. have presented more than 375 programs to 12,040 students from Maine to Vermont. They have donated 2,482 copies of their books to schools throughout the region.
Caverly’s writings and tales are based on his 32 years as a Maine Park Ranger and regional supervisor of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. He published his first book 15 years ago and has published at a rate of about one a year since.
During last week’s Houlton adventure, the Caverlys took the students on a picture and story-filled journey along more than 90 miles of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, linking each stop to an idea that started one of his books.
At the first bend on the canoe route, he described how they hid because a large black bear was sliding down a giant boulder into the water to cool down.
Almost immediately students’ hands popped up.
“What was he doing?”
“Did the bear get hurt?”
The journey continued, as the Caverlys and students interacted and shared stories about wildlife like horned hoot owls, weasels, pine martens, and fisher cats. Along the way, Caverly unfolded the process of writing a book.
“How many go bird hunting?” he asked.
“I hunted pigeons with my dad,” one student said.
Taking simple activities or encounters such as walking the dog or eating a hamburger, Caverly explained how ideas are born. At the earliest stage he jots down an idea on whatever is handy, even a diner napkin, he said.
It was a book of ghost stories from the Maine Woods’ that got him thinking before writing “An Allagash Haunting: The story of Emile Camile.”
“I wondered if I could write a ghost story,” he said.
He prewrites his ideas first and never pays attention to things like spelling or punctuation.
“I just want to get my thoughts on paper,” he said.
Caverly’s second book features the couple’s 10-year-old granddaughter, Olivia, as she takes a fictional trip into the North Maine Woods in a canoe. A violent thunderstorm approaches and the black clouds are the worst Olivia has ever seen.
“Will she survive the storm, or worse yet, will she survive what the storm brings?” Caverly asked the students as he explained how he created the story.
Susan Caverly read the prewritten “Allagash Haunting” and then the final version of the tale to the students, illustrating how it changed throughout multiple edits. The word “apparition” was in the passage and one student asked, “what’s an apparition?”
“An Allagash Haunting” was adapted into a stage play and has been performed in Houlton and other New England locations.
Caverly shared ghost stories and tales about the people who inspired his works, including granddaughter Olivia, the couple who snowshoe hiked 93 miles for their honeymoon and the ice fisherman who packed a glob of worms into his mouth to keep them from freezing.
His latest book, a memoir, includes detailed accountings and journal entries from Caverly, his brother Buzz Caverly and Susan Caverly as they worked and explored the northern Maine wilderness in Baxter State Park and the Allagash.
“It’s a real-life memoir from a ranger who cared,” Caverly said.
The Caverlys’ just returned on Friday from presenting to over 250 students in Corinth, Old Town and Casco this week and their calendar is packed with presentations slated throughout the rest of the year.
“My motivation to write is to express ideas, share stories and make others laugh,” Tim said.
