A Stecoah native has begun a book series for children featuring her former community and her family members.
Michelle McMillan Kirby’s first children’s book, “Uncle Martin’s Porch Tales: The Time June Bug Got Snake Bit” was released in November 2020, and is the first book in a planned ”Uncle Martin’s Porch Tales” series.
A retired educator, Kirby intends for the books to teach children both reading fundamentals and Christian principles.
“One of the components I’m strong in is helping children develop fluency,” Kirby said. “It begins with phonemic awareness. I talk, you talk, you repeat what I say as a little child. Then it’s phonics, how do things sound. Then it becomes fluency, and being able to read collections of letters as words at a fluent level.
“What I’ll be developing are fluency activities that are Biblically based.”
The first book in the planned series tells the story of June Bug the dog, being saved after she is bitten by a copperhead. It also teaches the message of John 3:16.
“This is a self-published work,” Kirby said. “However, I had complete freedom over my book and that includes ownership of all the illustrations, and they market it for me to Barnes and Noble, Amazon and other places.”
The characters in the “Uncle Martin’s Porch Tales” stories are based off Kirby and her children and grandchildren. The book also shows several iconic Stecoah locations, including the old Stecoah Grocery store.
She said she first worked on the book in 2012, but lost the manuscript and later wrote a second manuscript in 2018.
“Then I found the 2012 version and they were almost identical,” Kirby said. “It was awesome. It’s so cool, because then you know that you’re supposed to move with that.”
She said the deal was sealed after she submitted her idea to Covenant Books.
“I sent them the manuscript that day, and the next morning, on June 1, my son’s birthday, I got a call (saying), “Yep, we want to do it.’”
The book can be found on Amazon and at other retailers, and can be purchased locally at the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center.