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Brother, sister published in Highlights
By Kalea Hall
boardman
Cora Ams totes around her sketchbook wherever she can.
When she doesn’t have it, a plain piece of paper will do for her doodles.
She’s 10 with an imagination that takes her drawings to the next level.
Her brother, Benjamin, 7, enjoys developing comics and drawing because “it’s fun.”
Both are now published artists after having their drawings appear in Highlights — a national magazine for children that receives more than 35,000 entries each year.
It took about 18 months for their drawings to be published. Cora drew hers when she was 8, and Ben did his at age 6.
Highlights was first printed in 1946 with the philosophy of “fun with a purpose.” The first issue had a print run of 20,000 and by its 60th anniversary in 2006, it had printed 1 billion issues, according to the company’s website.
“[My] sketchbook has over 40 drawings,” Cora said. “It’s nice to express yourself.”
Cora’s rattlesnake drawing ran in this month’s Highlights edition.
“I drew a rattlesnake because I thought they were interesting, and they were really fun to draw because they are very detailed,” Cora said.
Cora’s eyes lit up as she showed how she made the snake’s scales, which took her only about a half-hour.
Her current drawings are of ponies and people. She took the characters from Disney’s “Frozen,” Princess Anna and Queen Elsa, and made ponies based on them.
“I thought they could contribute to the stories,” Cora said.
The Glenwood Middle School fifth-grader draws in class and before school when she has a chance.
Her art teacher “said I was really good and I should keep doing it,” Cora said.
Ben’s drawing of a yellow helicopter appeared in the February edition of Highlights. The Robinwood Elementary School third- grader has 15 items done for his comic, “Granny Smith Apple” — named after the crayon. The villain in the comic is the red apple. He doesn’t have a sketchbook as Cora does, but that doesn’t stop him from finding something to draw on that is close by.
“I would say they get their imagination from their dad,” John, said Yvonne, their mother.