I Have a New Book - Story County (Repost)

The Ames Tribune has an article about Derek and his trip to Ames.   At 10am Saturday at the ISU Bookstore (in the Memorial Union) and 2 pm at Ames Public Library He will  have a presentation to share his book..  

Derek Anderson

The book is called Story County and the author illustrator is Derek Anderson.


When he was in my fifth grade class I called him "Crane" because everybody knows that a Derek is also a crane.  He called me "Birdie"  because a Jay is a Jay-bird.  I used Birdie for a password for a long time....(obviously it has changed) -  Derek was a very special student. His mother was an aide in the school and became a good friend and later we taught together at Edwards School.  Derek now lives in Minnesota but he comes back to Ames and most always he talks to kids about drawing and art and inspires them.  


On his Website you can read this story:

Author/Illustrator Derek Anderson drew the very first picture he can ever remember drawing when he was in kindergarten. It was a picture of the Easter Bunny. When he finished it, Derek gave it to the principal of his school who hung it on the wall of his office for the rest of the school year. Derek's fate was sealed. From then on, he knew he was going to be an artist.

Derek kept drawing and is now a New York Times Best Seller Illustrator and he has this new book out called "Story County" and as you can see from the picture above it is bright and colorful and it will appeal to youngsters of all ages.  It is all about friends, Farmer, Dog, Pig, Chicken and Miss Cow who work together to make a Farm. I think my favorite is Pig. Especially when Pig says, "I like mud.  Is mud a color?"  You can get the book through Amazon by clicking here.  


Oh, one more thing. Where is Story County?  Well I live there. Story County is the county in central Iowa where Derek grew up and where I live.  You can be at a farm like the one the friends built in about 5 minutes and see the pigs, and the cows and even some horses. Not too many chickens however.  A few but not many.  It is a great place to live and Derek has done a great job capturing it in his new book.