Farris to Sign New Children's Book on Saturday

By Joel Frady

For more than a decade, first grade teacher Judy Farris would occasionally take her golden retriever, Boo, to

school and let her students read him.
"It was a great motivation for them, because the dog was not critical at all. He would just listen," said Farris, who taught first grade at Glen Alpine Elementary School in Morganton for 29 years. "It didn't matter if you missed a word, because he didn't know.

"They loved it," Farris continued. "They would take turns all day going over and sitting beside him, petting him and reading to him." But as Farris listened to the books they read, or read them herself, she was frequently left thinking "Gosh, I could do this."

So Farris set out to write "a story honoring Boo" and the students that read to him. On Saturday, April 18, Farris will bring that story, Mr. Boo Bear, to Skyland Books in West Jefferson from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The book is a first for Farris and features illustrations by her nephew, Michael Farris, who recently graduated from the University of South Carolina.

Farris, who retired from Glen Alpine in 2005 and moved to Lansing with her husband, Chris Stamper, said she spent a year trying to get Mr. Boo Bear published and got "some really nice rejection letters" before she decided to contact AuthorHouse, a self-publishing company based in Bloomington, Ind.

She had written the book - which tells parallel stories inspired by Boo, who turned 15 in March, and her 15-year-old niece Taylor - but didn't have any illustrations to go with her story. AuthorHouse provided Farris an illustrator, but it wasn't exactly a match made in heaven.

"I paid for those illustrations, but I didn't like them," she said. "I knew Michael could do it and I had asked him several times before, but he was busy studying for college and didn't have the time to put into it." Farris then showed him the other illustrator's work and convinced him to work on the project.

"The first thing he brought me became the cover of the book, because it was just perfect," said Farris. She later noted that "he was able to make them look the way I wanted them to look," in part because he knew both Boo and Taylor.

The two would discuss the illustrations as Michael drew them, and Farris said "it was really fun to work with him" and that the illustrations "made the book."

Farris said that Mr. Boo Bear is a "simple, easy-to-read picture book" intended for Pre-K through first grade students. It tells the story of Boo and a red-headed girl.

"In the book, the illustrations show Boo and the little girl coming home at the same time - she's an infant, he's a puppy," said Farris. "As the pages progress … it show the two of them becoming 15-years-old together."

Farris said the real Boo will be present at the signing on Saturday, and she will also read the book if there is "a willing crowd."

Mr. Boo Bear is 22 pages long and sells for $20 for a hardcover copy or $12 for a paperback.

To find out more about the signing, contact Skyland Books at (336) 846-2660.