The budding Bjorksten sisters

by Christi Marsico
Tuesday, April 8, 2008 2:01 PM MDT

Four girls with blue eyes and graham cracker-colored locks turn around with smiles and anticipation as they express how they published two books and wrote numerous plays, songs and short stories.

Using crayons, markers, watercolors, chalk and colored pencils, the Bjorksten sisters -- Tess, 7, Sofie, 8, and 10-year-old twins, Julianna “Drew” and Jazmin -- have illustrated two books in collaboration with their Aunt Jennifer Alexander's stories.

Their first book, "What Should I Dream About Tonight?" was published two years ago and given as Christmas gifts to their friends and family.

Jennifer wrote the story in one night to compliment the numerous pictures her nieces already had drawn.

The story explores the adventures one little girl might dream about in vivid colors depicting adventures with rainbows, horses, spaceships and pirates.

Last year when Tess was in kindergarten, she studied a unit on cowboys and had created the picture used on page 12 of the book.

"I drew this at school. I drew the cactus and the sun with sand," she said.

In their first edition, Jennifer had written about cowboys to go along with Tess' picture, feeling "cowboy" was a neutral term, but after some insistence, she changed the word to "cowgirl" in later editions.

Jazmin adds with a smile, "Tess is like a cowboy."

The girls learned how to adapt their art for publication, adding and detailing to their pictures.

Having a contest for the caption pictures on the border pages, these young artists created symbols representing parts of the story.

Sofie drew the cover page, as well as the back page, noting the front doesn't have as much detail as the back page, which correlates with how the story unfolds.

"The front is the question, and the back is the answer," Sofie said.

Book two

Their second book, "How Can I See God's Face," was published a year ago before Christmas, as well.

Sofie also designed the cover for this book and the girls have an equal amount of illustrations throughout the story.

Unlike their other book, Jennifer wrote this story first and then the sisters drew the pictures.

The seed that planted the idea for this book happened while Drew and Jennifer were driving down 15th Street and came to a stop at Durbin Street.

"Drew said it's hard to pray when you don't know who you are praying to," Jennifer noted.

Searching for knowledge about God, the sisters have expressed their relationship with the Lord in this book through bright pictures of angels, picnics and sunsets, solidifying their faith in many faces and places.

Jennifer noted that they have made enough money to pay for the printing of both books and do have plans to write a third one, which may be about an RV road trip they plan to take.

Garden variety

The girls describe each other candidly as "Tomboy Tess," who just received a baseball mitt and skateboard from an uncle and "Bookworm Drew," who writes many of the plays, such as "Fairyopolis" that the girls act out.

There’s "Baby doll Jazmin," who totes her new baby Joshua around with maternal instincts, and "Adventurous Sofie," who likes the color hot pink almost as much as she likes writing songs, such as "One Day," which all girls know and sing with a gentle, harmonious spirit.

The girls currently reside with their aunt and have been involved in numerous productions with the Casper Children's Theatre, as well St. Anthony Catholic Church's children's choir.

Like a garden of promise, the budding Bjorkstens are coming into their own as writers, actors and little women with purpose on this kids’ beat.

For more information on the girls' books, e-mail bjorkstengirls@yahoo.com.

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