A local children’s author’s fictional chicken has found new life.
Brenda Hooks Harris’ British free-range hen first met the world in a children’s book called
“Poultry Snowed In at Lavender Cottage”, the story of a free-range British Bantam hen who comes of age (she lays her first egg) in a 2015 book by Podkin Press, a British publisher, was the first effort of Harris.
The book sold well enough that co-editor John Mulligan asked Harris to bring his humble chicken back to life. The result is “Poultry Snowed In at Lavender Cottage,” recently released at a Sunday afternoon signing at the Pepsi Store in New Bern.
While her first book introduced her hen – named “Poultry” – the new book sets her on a new adventure in which she and her fellow hens learn to survive a cold British winter and face other challenges, including a hungry fox.
New characters include a Corgi named Happy – the fox mentioned above and a fun dog who gets along well with chickens but likes to snack on eggs. The dog, Harris said, is a recreation of a dog she met while visiting a sister in Hawaii. The fox was added on the advice of co-editor Sheila Mulligan. “She told me there had to be a fox in this one,” she said.
Harris said a lengthy editing process slowed the book’s production — but an editing process, she said, that significantly improved the original script. “I love the editing as much as the writing,” she said.
Harris’ illustrator is Havelock resident (and Oregon native) Ellen Hare. The two met while Hare was marketing his work at the New Bern Farmers Market a few years ago. “She really fell in love with my style and said it was ‘exactly what I was looking for in my suite,'” Hare recalled.
The two started working on the new book in 2016.
Hare works in oils and says she has painted all her life. “My earliest memory is painting,” she said. She describes her style as “realistic with a bit of whimsy” and adds that she particularly enjoys painting animals.
According to John Mulligan, he worked closely with Harris and Hare during the writing and illustration process, encouraging Hare to “put individuality into the animals”.
Alongside her story, Harris peppers her book with framed accompaniments she calls “intelligent information.” These cover everything from biological facts about the animals that are its characters to the silent defense of organic and free-range food.
Hare said she was working on future projects with Harris.
The book is available locally and will also be published on Amazon.com.