By Lorraine Wilde
Bellingham children’s book author and businesswoman Sheryl Hershey is continuing to raise awareness and spread compassion through her “Lila” series of picture books for children age 8 and under. “They’re the first books I’m aware of where the main character is deaf, but the book isn’t about her being deaf,” notes Hershey. “The whole point is to show that you don’t have to be perfect to be important to the world. The world is better just because you’re in it.”
Hershey’s first book, “Lila and the Dandelion,” was released in January 2015. The main character, Lila, is named after Hershey’s grandmother, Lila Ahlsten, who spent her life teaching at the Washington State School for the Blind. “My grandmother taught students who were both blind and deaf,” explains Hershey. “In her day, if she couldn’t help them, they would be institutionalized. But she knew those children had something to give to the world.”
Hershey didn’t set out to become a famous children’s book author. “When I found out that my daughter was going to have a baby girl, I just wanted to write a book for her to let her know what kind of women she came from,” notes Hershey. “I wrote it about four years ago and had just planned to make a few copies as gifts for family and friends.”
In “Lila and the Dandelion,” Lila meets a dandelion that is sad because he just wants to be a flower. Lila communicates in sign language and Dandelion understands. “She tells Dandelion that he is important to the world because dandelions are used for medicine, they’re beautiful like the sun, and bugs like them. Dandelion feels better and realizes that the world is a better place just because he’s in it.”
What started as a gift to her granddaughter soon blossomed into something Hershey could share with the world. “A couple of years ago a good friend, Yvonne Cartwright, suggested Michael James Marshall as an illustrator for the book. He does incredible work and once he came on board, it became a much bigger deal,” emphasizes Hershey. Lila is drawn to resemble Hershey’s granddaughter. “Online, I found and presented the work to Naren Aryal, CEO of Mascot Books. He loved it and the whole thing just snowballed after that.”
Hershey is pleased with the modern publishing model used by Mascot, a sort of hybrid between self and traditional publishing called assisted publishing. “You pay for the help you receive with editing and printing and they manage distribution,” explains Hershey. “Your books appear in all the major stores around the country, but you still retain all publishing rights to your own work. They keep a smaller percent of the profit than a traditional publishing house.”
When thinking about how she would present the second book in the series — due to be released this winter — Hershey brainstormed her options. “It’s really hard for authors to get a chance to sell their books. So I thought, why not create an opportunity not just for me, but one that would also help writers from across the Pacific Northwest,” beams Hershey. At that moment, the Bellingham Holiday Book Festival was born. With the help of her husband, friends, other authors and volunteers, the festival is slated to take place on Thursday, December 10 from noon to 8:00 p.m. on the second floor of the Bellingham Cruise Terminal. “We have at least 17 authors across a variety of genres sharing their work directly with the public,” says Hershey. Attendees can do some holiday shopping while directly supporting local authors and artists. “It’s going to be a big party really, with cake and cookies early in the day and happy hour with donated wine and hors d’oeuvres beginning at 5:00 p.m.”
A highlight of the event will include another author represented by Mascot, Nick Baker, from Edmonds, who graduated from the Washington School for the Blind. “Nick is blind and autistic and an unbelievably talented musician,” shares Hershey. “He’ll provide the holiday music for the festival on his keyboard and also plans to share a song that he wrote about my book called “The Lila Theme.” Ferndale author Barbara Gene Hicks will also be in attendance with her books commissioned by the Walt Disney Company, based on the characters in the movie “Frozen.”
Mascot Books’ Naren Aryal will be on hand throughout the day to speak with authors about how they can bring their book ideas to fruition. “I also really have to thank the Port of Bellingham for their support of this event,” says Hershey. “They granted us economic development status for use of the space because we’re connecting local authors directly with the public.”
Hershey and Marshall will be signing copies of their books at the festival and debuting the second of the series. “‘Lila and the Stink Bug’ is funnier than the first book,” explains Hershey. “The stink bug’s stinker gets stuck. Lila helps him solve the mystery of how it got that way and how they’ll fix it.” This book also has other characters that didn’t appear in the first book. “Carl is a little more edgy. He and a butterfly are very nearly blind and wear thick glasses. They all learn from each other that when you do something naughty, bad things start to happen.”
Hershey is hopeful that the festival will bring local authors closer to their reading public. “If this festival goes well, we’ll absolutely do it again next year.” Hershey and Marshall also have big plans after the festival, when they’ll begin working on book three of their series, “Lila and the Dust Bunny.”
Bellingham Holiday Book Festival
Bellingham Cruise Terminal
355 Harris Avenue
Bellingham, WA 98225
December 10, 2015
Noon to 8:00 p.m.
