wfn.org | [PCUSAnews] Books for Children Project gains volume

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Note #6693 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Books for Children Project gains volume
from visiting author
14-June-2001
GA01134

Books for Children Project gains volume
from visiting author

by Emily Enders Odom

LOUISVILLE, June 14 – Approaching the collection site for the General
Assembly Books for Children Project, the last thing that Kristy Parker
wanted was to call attention to herself.  As she casually slipped her
children’s book into the designated box, her roommate, Pat
Raube-Wilson, a Theological Student Advisory Delegate (TSAD) from Union
Seminary, N.Y., announced, “This is her book!”

	“Oh, Kristy Parker,” the volunteer at the table responded,
inspecting the author’s name on the book’s front cover,
“this really is your book.”

	The Books for Children Project, in celebration of the conclusion of the
“Year of the Child,” is continuing the tradition of collecting
books, brought by Assembly participants, for distribution, to various
ministries and agencies throughout Kentucky.

	Parker, a TSAD at this Assembly, is a freelance writer and mother who has
just completed her first year at Dubuque Theological Seminary.  She wrote
the book My Dad the Magnificent as an assignment for a writing class she
once took at a local community college.  It took two and a half years and 20
submissions before Parker found a publisher in E.P. Dutton, now Dutton
Children’s Books.

My Dad the Magnificent, with illustrations by Lillian Hoban, is the
first-person story of a little boy who brags about his dad through each day
of the week.  After portraying his father as a lion tamer and a basketball
player, among other exotic professions, the boy is finally forced to admit
that he is not telling the truth.  No matter to the boy, however, for when
Saturday at last arrives, his beloved dad is able to spend the whole day
just with him.

Parker dedicated the book to her own father, to honor his involvement in her
life.  And now, as she watches her husband’s involvement with their
own three children, she offers thanks for their love and support of her call
to ministry.  “My family is the best thing in my life,” Parker
acknowledged.

As she wondered whether her own children would someday share My Dad the
Magnificent with children of their own, Parker allowed that no one had said
anything to her about that possibility yet.

“They better,” she said.

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