Just call them author

BENSON — A collection of books by and for children is available at the town’s Mary Duncan Public Library.

When she was teaching, Beth Rogers, now retired, had her students write books.

“We decided to try to do it with a group of kids now,” said Teresa Blackmon, who partnered with Rogers on the latest effort to turn students into published authors. “We got with some of the fourth-grade teachers and they chose students who they thought would do a good job with it.”

The children would come together to talk about their book ideas, though juggling the schedules of fourth-graders became too much to overcome, Blackmon said. “It began to be difficult to get them all together,” she said. “We had to work individually.”

In one-on-one sessions with the students, Blackmon and Rogers became editors of sorts. “They would give us their draft, and we did make some corrections,” Blackmon said. “We just had to sort of help fill in some gaps and help make the books more descriptive.”

The celebration recognizing the children’s achievements had the library packed.

“These parents are proud,” Blackmon said. “You can look at all the pictures that they are taking, and so many people are here — aunts, uncles and grandparents.”

Blackmon hopes that “Just Call Me Author” will become a yearly project. “It has gone over really well and I want to do it again,” she said. “One thing that we are thinking about doing in the future is having one book about a particular thing like Christmas, Halloween or Mule Days, then have the kids write stories and have it in one book.”

Elizabeth Blalock, 10, of Benson wrote her book, “Super Speedy Saves the Day,” about a turtle.

“It’s about a sea turtle saving the day,” Elizabeth said. “It starts with his friend, Stringer the stingray, getting kidnapped by a scientist trying to kill him to make accessories out of sea animals. Super Speedy saves the day by going  through a secret passageway to save his friends.”

For all the young authors, the assignment was to write a book using a stuffed animal as a muse.

“My mom had a sea turtle named Speedy,” Elizabeth said. “The name was on the tag.”

Jake Peters, 10, of Benson wrote his book, “Eat More Chicken,” about a turkey. “It’s about how a turkey escapes Thanksgiving dinner,” he said. “He goes to Chick-fil-A to work there, and he is in a cow costume with a sign that says ‘Eat More Chicken.’ ”

He wrote the book with help, Jake said. “I had my mom type it in on the computer because my handwriting is not good,” he said. “But I helped her with the design, and it was pretty good.”

Lillie Mae Leonard, 10, of Benson wrote “Have You Ever Seen an Axolotl?”

“It’s about this amphibian called an axolotl,” she said. “They are very endangered, and I’m trying to bring awareness of how endangered they are.”

Her favorite creature is an axolotl, which is the salamander family, Lillie said. “I want an axolotl as a pet,” she said, “so I came up with the idea that ‘hey, axolotl is on the critical endangered list.’ I just thought maybe I could increase awareness.”

It’s exciting to have her book in a library, Lillie said. “I feel like it’s gonna be a bestseller.”

Adrianna Perry-Stimpson, 9, of Benson wrote “Cinnabon and Friends.”

“It’s about a dog named Cinnabon who has never been invited to a birthday or sleepover,” Adrianna said. “He gets to go to a sleepover and experience all things he has never gotten to do.”

Adrianna called publishing a book an achievement. “I feel like that would be hard to accomplish,” she said. “And I accomplished it. So it feels amazing.”

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