Local Authors Work On Book Series For Kids

Thomas Sandusky didn't have it easy teaching high schoolers in New Jersey.

One day, he broke out a Dr. Seuss book and noticed his students were entranced. The frequently rambunctious group sat in silence and listened to every word.

"They learn through stories," he thought to himself.

Fast forward several years later. He met neighbor Kathy Hill at a private party. The two hit it off immediately.

Sandusky realized she had a flair for poetry.

Anyone who meets Hill for a few seconds knows she has a lot of flair. Her personality comes through immediately.

Years ago, the Brooklyn, N.Y. native started a new ritual. She would sit in church, take notes during a sermon and compose a song. Sometimes, they would become rap songs.

Hill would then introduce those songs to prison inmates.

"They loved them," she said. "Some stood on their feet and told me, 'Please come back.'"

Hill had a gift and Sandusky knew it. Pretty soon, they went to work.

Their children's book, "Gracie: The Glass Tree Frog," the first in the upcoming "Stories from the Rainforest" series, was their first completed project.

It is the first in a set of picture books. Also accompanying the series is an intermediate-level book and a novel.

Sandusky will write the latter two.

His specialty is rainforests and his passion is getting the word out on renewable energy.

In Gracie, he wrote the background section. The main character is a glass tree frog only found in the tropics of Central and South America.

During the story, she encounters an anole lizard, an Ecuadorian boy and her nemesis, a blunt-headed tree snake.

There are morals to every story Hill and Sandusky write, but the former high school teacher also wants readers to learn about nature.

For instance, frogs have roamed the Earth for 350 million years, but it is estimated that one third of the amphibian species are threatened with extinction, he said. That is the reason for centering the story on a glass tree frog.

"The animals are all accurate," he said. "What I'm doing is teaching ecology."

Sandusky gives Hill a "story board." He tells her what setting, mood and character development he wants and she puts into a rhyme.

The two also are working on an activity book for kids - which will include art, connect-the-dot games and other features.

For Sandusky, who also is an assistant football coach at Hernando Christian Academy, he knew what he wanted once his teaching career had ended.

"I knew when I retired I wanted to continue writing about the rainforest," he said.