NEW SERIES BEGINS IN LEARNING SECTION

Today the Southeast Missourian launches "The Mystery of Roanoke," an adventure story that will be published 14 consecutive weeks in the Learning section of Tuesdays' papers.

The story details the adventures of 8-year-old twins Melissa and Brian O'Donnell during a visit to their grandparents' farm in Roanoke, Va. The story is the first serial created by author Karen Adams Sulkin and artist Robert Lunsford and the second by the duo to run in the Southeast Missourian.

"Adventure on Ocracoke Island" previously ran in the Learning section.

Sulkin and Lunsford are employed at The Roanoke Times, which first ran "The Mystery of Roanoke" in 1998 for the newspaper's Newspaper in Education program.

The Southeast Missourian's Newspaper in Education program distributes 2,800 papers each Tuesday during the school year to YELL schools in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City. Both private and public schools benefit from the program.

Lunsford said the project was in the final stages of development when he became involved in August 1998. He used live models to pose as the characters in the story, dressed them in appropriate clothing and took reference photos prior to completing his drawings. Sulkin also had collected photographs of some local historic houses she wanted to include as backgrounds in Lunsford's drawings.

"There were some scenes where we needed to use the original faces, but we needed to act them out," Lunsford said by telephone Monday. "We tried to be somewhat realistic about it, so there was one point where I had my wife, daughter and a couple of friends standing in my canoe in the back yard wrapped in blankets and coats. We even brought our dog into it."

Lunsford said students in his community were able to watch the story develop visually as they read weekly installments.

"Karen and I could show up in a classroom and show reference things," he said. "The elementary school kids just really enjoyed talking about the process and how it was put together. It was fun to go to a classroom and show them what would happen the next week."

Each chapter is about 850 words. The series will run through Sept. 12.