Secret Delivery

Artist: Michele Mitcavish
Napa County , California
"Secret Delivery"
Fused and Cut Glass Mosaic
2008


"I wanted to take a dreamy approach to my interpretation of the book, "The Mailbox". While I was reading the book, I started to make notes of things that jumped out at me in the story. As wisps of the book's images ran through my imagination, I drew them onto the box. I also incorporated some of the key phrases from the text into the imagery. Then I began cutting and melting the glass. The rhododendrons, flames and green envelope (inside) were all fused in a glass kiln and then filled in with hundreds of pieces of cut glass for the areas of color. After the glass was adhered, I completed the grouting to make sure the mailbox could weather the outdoors. I find working in the medium of mosaic gives me the freedom to visually pull the different elements together to create a complete story."

The Mailbox was the book choice for 2008 Napa County Reads. On November 7th, 2008, Arts Council Napa Valley, the Napa County Office of Education, the Napa County Board of Supervisors, artists, and community members celebrated the Napa County Reads program at an auction and benefit at Artesa Winery. The book was the inspiration for 28 artful mailboxes designed by local artists and auctioned off at the event. The proceeds benefitted Napa County Reads, a literacy program sponsored by the Napa County Office of Education.

2009 Book Choice: The Mailbox

The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer has been selected as 2009’s Mountain View Reads Together book. This is the first book chosen that was written for a younger audience.

Gabe is a 12 year old who has moved from foster home to foster home and is eventually adopted by a reclusive uncle, a Vietnam Veteran. As the book begins, the boy returns home from school to find the uncle has died unexpectedly. Not wanting to return to foster care, he decides to keep the death a secret. He is aided in this by a mysterious person who communicates with him by leaving messages in the mailbox.

The 178 page book is written for grades 4 and up but should appeal to adults as well. It is a good one for families to discuss. It addresses the lingering effects of the Vietnam War on participants, the plight of a 12 year old orphan who longs for a family, the importance of pets, the value of reading, and a caring community--all wrapped up in a compelling mystery.

The author, a Mountain View resident, is a professor of anesthesiology at Stanford and an anesthesiologist at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

Watch for upcoming details about the November 2009 series of Mountain View Reads Together. More details will be on the Library's website.