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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Past the halfway mark ... Big dreams ... Man arrested for allegedly firing gun at several area businesses ... Past the halfway mark ... Big dreams ... Man arrested for allegedly firing gun at several area businesses ... BOOKS Teacher turns author with help from some fruit Matt Damon's book offers lessons on diversity and a fun read for kids Comment By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 19, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 19, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News Matt Damon set out to write the great American novel. It didn’t happen, but the longtime Ashland educator’s ambitious attempt did produce some valuable fruit. Talking fruit, actually. And vegetables. And pastries. And a nasty, war-mongering custard. Those and other items found on refrigerator shelves are given catchy names and strong personalities as characters in Damon’s first children’s book, a creation some 25 years in the making titled “The Fall of General Custard, or the Overthrow of a Leftover.” The book, available for purchase at whitecloudpress.com , was brought to colorful life by Gideon Kendall, a prolific illustrator who’s worked for The New York Times, Scholastic and Disney, among others. Damon, 52, who has worked in the Ashland School District since 1999, most recently as a third-grade teacher at Helman Elementary, began working on a novel he hoped would become his masterpiece in the early 1990s. After abandoning the idea, he realized his lifelong love of rhyme and storytelling, combined with his passion for teaching children, may be better suited for children’s literature. “I found myself playing with rhyme and writing more children’s stories, probably because I had been working with kids as a camp counselor and as a teacher at some private schools at that time,” said Damon, who will be at the Ashland Public Library Aug. 3 for a reading and book-signing. “So I would get distracted from my novel, and then I just realized I should just run with that (writing for children), and it actually fits me a lot better.” Twice Damon thought he had found a publisher, but both opportunities fell through. Fifteen years after the second disappointment, however, he was recontacted by one of the publishers, White Cloud Press, which wanted to include it in its humanKIND Project. The project, Damon says, includes books that focus on cooperation, conflict resolution and kindness. “So this really appealed to them,” he said. The protagonists in Damon’s story, which is set in a jam-packed refrigerator, are an olive named Romeo and a Maraschino cherry named Rosaline, who become fast friends after the jar of cherries Romeo inhabits are placed on the top shelf with the rest of the fruit. That doesn’t sit well with a leftover custard named General Custard the Infamous, who demands the cherries be moved down to the dessert shelf. Queen Honeydew responds with a sweeping statement: “Maraschinos are sweets. That is partially true. But truth can depend on a food’s point of view. Now, I say the cherries my chose what they do. Since they say they’re fruit, I declare they are too.” Honeydew’s speech can be interpreted any number of ways, by adults or savvy children, and Damon’s fine with that. “And so to me, that relates to a lot of what’s going on today,” he said. “You’ve got people of different genders saying I want to chose what my gender is, whether you agree with that or not. They get to decide. I don’t want to get too deep into it, but it’s characters in society saying, ‘This is what I chose to do.’ And then the society backing it, but then someone else creating fear, saying, ‘If they get to do that, wait a minute … so then the next thing you know, peaches will be called burgers.’ “If you want to go to the under-layers, it’s about accepting diversity.” But for younger audiences, Damon’s book also works well as a playful, imaginative story with some clever rhymes and an easily digestible message probably most clearly expressed during a speech by Rosaline near the end of the 34-page book: “We food groups have different shapes and tastes, and now fears in our hearts, which Old Custard has placed. But look — we’re all foods, and the fact must be faced, that mashing each other is simply a waste.” “Sometimes I tell kids, ‘This story isn’t true, but it has truth in it,' ” Damon said. Joe Zavala is a reporter for the Ashland Daily Tidings. Reach him at 541-821-0829 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @Joe_Zavala99. By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 19, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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