Portland State Magazine Spring 2016

8 pORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE SPRING 2016 AN AMERICAN teenager’s rebellion turned into an international Chinese incident in Bob Jonas’ first young adult novel, ChinAlive . Now Jonas MS ’92 has set his second novel, Imposter , in Saudi Arabia, where a teenage boy from Portland creates an online Muslim cleric persona for an assignment at his international school. His work inexplicably goes live and the consequences are disastrous. Jonas’ 20 years working overseas with expat kids, three of which were in Saudi Arabia, enriches the story’s authentic voice. Jonas (pictured here) recently retired from being a school librarian, a career that started in Beaverton and took him to China, Chile, Saudi Arabia, and most recently Germany. Now Jonas is crafting his young adult stories from his home on Vashon Island in Washington. Intrigue in Saudi Arabia Puppetmaster PUPPETS IN the classroom are magical, says Penny Walter MA ’01. When she was a teacher, children in her blended kindergarten and first-grade classroom would suspend their disbelief, she says, and learn from and often cooperate better with a puppet than a teacher. But as Walter encouraged her students to follow their natural gifts, she realized, “I needed to follow mine, so I decided to quit and become a professional puppeteer.” In 2002, Walter started Penny’s Puppet Productions. With her 500 puppets she creates and performs mini musicals at libraries, schools and birthday parties in Portland and the outlying communities. “The best thing about being a puppeteer,” she says, “is I get to laugh every day I go to work and share laughter.” spring Fanfare