By Genevieve Rogers
spiritnewspapers@gmail.com
Grace Reddick, author of "Ashley's Unforgettable Summer", spoke to
the students at Sand Hill Elementary on Monday as part of Young
Authors Week. The Savannah native and Ellabell resident has been
speaking to students all over the Coastal Empire for the past year,
but her visit to Sand Hill was one very close to her heart. Her
granddaughter and inspiration for the book, Ashley, is a teacher at
the school.
Before introducing her grandmother, "Miss Ashley" told the students
how her grandmother wrote a story about a little girl with a
mischievous pet chimpanzee that caused all sorts of problems and
mishaps for Ashley and her best friend, Rylee. Mrs. Reddick then went
on to tell the story to the students, who were delighted with the
antics of Tina the chimpanzee and the situations she put the young
girls in.
The author used an assortment of props during the event, including a
variety of toy chimps, each of which represented different scenes in
the book. The chimp with the loud makeup and earrings garnered the
most response from the students. She also showed illustrations from
the book and explained what an illustrator is. And while talking
about a scene in the book where Tina has a mishap with colored
bubbles, Mrs. Reddick brought out a bubble gun and sprayed bubbles
into the crowd, much to the excitement of the children.
After the story, Mrs. Reddick answered questions from the students
and from Melanie Reiser, Principal at Sand Hill. Mrs. Reddick said
that it took about six months to write the book, mainly due to the
fact that she already had the story in her head. She further
explained that the character of Rylee is based on her other
granddaughter.
Mrs. Reddick's second children's book, "Forsaken Land", is expected
to be published by late summer. And on May 17th from 2-4, she'll be
at the Barnes and Noble in the Oglethorpe Mall for a book signing.
For more information on Mrs. Reddick and her books, or to schedule a
booking or reading, please visit her website at www.grace4books.com/