Book Debut

Last Tuesday, Ferradiddledumday—my Appalachian folktale—debuted at the Franklin County Library. Friends of the Library sold copies.

My cousin, Hunter Brown, went with me and served as my photographer for the evening. Reporter Morris Stephenson of the Franklin News-Post covered the event. He'll have a story in Wednesday's paper.  More than fifty folks turned out to see Bruce Rae (my illustrator) and me read selections from the book:

First, some other entertainers warmed up the crowd:

     

Joshua Grice, a kindergarten teacher from Lee-Waid Elementary School, played and sang.  (Ibby Greer took the photos of the girl with guitar and of Mr. Grice.) 

Bruce and I made our appearance, read from the book while a library helper ran our Powerpoint presentation of Bruce's illustrations, and answered questions. The audience had lots of questions:

Claudia Condiff mentioned the book launch on her All Furry Critters blog.


On Thursday, we did another appearance at the Westlake branch of the Franklin County Library.

Westlake has a really neat "Smartboard" that allows computer projections. Our Powerpoint presentation was in the background while we read from the book: (Fellow Lake Writer Sally Roseveare took the photos below)

We did our reading from one side while librarian Marilyn Amerson ran the Powerpoint show from the other side. Below, Bruce assumes the role of Ferradiddledumday, the strange little feller who gives Gillie the power to spin hay into gold.

On her Smith Mountain Lake Mystery Writer's blog, Sally Roseveare posted her impression of the reading. Betsy Ashton posted her account on her Mad Maxisms blog

I had a good time doing these appearances and I hope to do many more.

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