Disney puppeteers aid author in program
Palm Beach Gardens author Suzanne Kline has written three books, which benefit charity, inspired by her dog Gizmo. Now, she’s adapting one of her books into an educational puppet video program that will be shown in schools.
Kline, her puppets and Gizmo will film five pilot episodes based on “Beep, Beep, Gizmo!” (which addresses issues of bullying) on Saturday at The Studio Creative Group in DeLand. The puppets will be brought to life by furloughed professional Disney puppeteers, including Scott Silson, William Horne and Kelsey Brady.
“Our puppets are being run by these unbelievable professionals,” Kline said.
Pre-pandemic, Gizmo and Kline made stops to discuss her latest book (“Gizmo 4 President!”), cruising around in his presidential Jeep with his “save the seas” surfboard. The book presents Gizmo as a presidential candidate who reminds children about the importance of coastal conservation and encourages them to become ambassadors for marine life by cleaning up oceans and beaches.
“Gizmo’s a fun-loving surfing
dog and he sets out to teach children how to use their imagination in my book series,” Kline said. “And right now, we’re focusing with the presidential book on coastal conservation. ... Gizmo desires to clean up the ocean, and he wants to help his sea buddies and then, in this is a canine presidential race, to inspire compassion and awareness.”
There was supposed to be an Orlando meet-and-greet in March, but it was canceled over coronavirus concerns.
Since COVID-19 put meet-and-greets and other projects on hold, Kline decided to regroup. She sought ways to help students struggling with virtual learning and lack of social interaction. Plus, she was perturbed by reports that kids ar
en’t reading while away from school.
Her book partner, family psychotherapist Dulce Da Costa, suggested transforming the characters into puppets.
“I thought, ‘What a great idea,’ ” Kline said. “Over the summer, I called around and actually connected with a woman in Toronto area that makes puppets, so she’s made all eight of our characters.”
The puppets include Gizmo, his sidekick Kaia, bullies Riley and Beep the Seahorse, Gizmo’s mentor Axel the Crab, Professor Otty the Otter, Gizmo’s owner Messy and new pal Reggie.
The program aims to show par
ents and educators how to help children deal effectively with daily tasks, including going back to school (virtually and in-classroom) amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“This election period in our country brings up a whole new set of pressures for our kids, including the ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships, practicing and maintaining social awareness, responsible decisionmaking and self-management — all while many children are having to cope with online learning, missing friends and home life that is disrupted and uncertain with school shutdowns,” Kline said. “We decided to take a children’s book and ventured in offering new ways to reach children virtually during these times.”
Parts of the educational program will be available for free on the Gizmo’s Awesome Adventures YouTube channel, but the full program will be offered to schools for a fee.
Plans are also underway to adapt “Gizmo 4 President!” for the classroom. Kline said the book is especially relevant right now ahead of the presidential election.
“Every side is bullying each other right now, trying to be the loudest ... I’m not calling politician bullies, but I think that we all want to be heard, but we could do it in a gentle way,” she said, noting Gizmo models good guy behavior throughout his campaign. “We all need to get on the same surfboard some
how, or the same ocean, together.”
Kline donates all proceeds of her book royalties to charity in support of children’s literacy, education and ocean conservation. Purchases of her books help fund the Surf’s Up Gizmo Children’s Foundation, which provides free books to underserved
children in schools. So far, she’s donated 8,000 books.
For more information, go to sugcfoundation.org.