Children's Book Tells Sweet Story Of Shoebert The Seal's Beverly Stay

BEVERLY, MA — Sarah Hastings saw first-hand the joy that Beverly's most famous fall visitor of 2022 brought to residents young and old when she took the two children she was a nanny for to see the 4-year-old gray seal during his weeklong stay in Shoe Pond.

The way she said she helped the 3-year-old accept the celebrity seal's "escape" from Shoe Pond to the Beverly Police Station, and subsequent transportation to the Mystic Aquarium, laid the groundwork for the new children's book "Shoebert: The Traveling Seal" available through Industry Books out of The Book Shop of Beverly Farms.

"The older boy got so attached to Shoebert," Hastings told Patch. "When he left the pond I told him: 'Oh, I am sure he will be back,' to make him feel better in the moment. Then when we got back home I suggested we draw some pictures, and write a little something down about him, so we can always remember him."

When Hastings said she told a few of the parents at a nearby park about how they commemorated the seal's stay in Beverly she was told that it would make a good read for children throughout the North Shore.

"It's totally crazy the way it worked out but it was amazing," said Hastings, who grew up in Marblehead and now lives in Beverly. "It was so cool. I've always wanted to write a children's book. It's funny because I just came across something I wrote to myself that one of my goals for this year was to publish a book, and had totally forgotten about it, and was so excited to see that the other day.

"It's been totally crazy. But also a dream come true."

It just so happened The Book Shop of Beverly Farms owner Hannah Harlow had some experience publishing on a micro-scale and was looking for someone to work with on the next project under the publisher Industry Books.

"I had been following along with the Shoebert story itself as it was happening," Harlow said. "I loved it and talked to a lot of people about it at the store."

Harlow said she was able to connect with Hastings, who studied early childhood education at Salem State, about the possibility of working together on the project.

"We hadn't seen illustrations or a word of copy at that point but we started the conversation," Harlow said. "People really loved Shoebert. It really struck a chord with everyone.

"It seemed like the perfect Christmas present. It's such a celebration of Beverly - I think that's the best thing about it - and it's such a feel-good story."

Members of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stranding team reviewed the book before publication to ensure its work was accurately represented and the details were historically correct.

The goal was to have the illustrated book — designed to be read to toddlers and read by first-time readers — ready for the holiday season. It was put on sale on Small Business Saturday this past weekend.

Harlow said, through mostly pre-orders, that all 450 copies were gone from The Book Shop of Beverly Farms in about 25 minutes after opening at 10 a.m.

She said the book is now in its second printing with copies expected to arrive on or about Dec. 12. Harlow said she has orders for about 200 of those books already with 550 expected — with more to come if the demand is there.

"We're a bookstore so we're happy to keep the book in stock," Harlow said. "It's not a holiday story. But it makes a great holiday gift. It's a story that will continue to be appreciated into the new year."

Harlow said most of the orders have come locally on the North Shore, but that she has shipped some to those throughout New England who were similarly enamored with Shoebert's adventure.

The book includes all aspects of Shoebert's whirlwind stay in town — from his surprise appearance in Shoe Pond to NOAA officials checking to make sure he was OK, to his many adoring visitors, to his midnight romp to the nearby Beverly Police Station, his trip to the Connecticut aquarium, his release off the shore of Rhode Island, and the tracking device that pinned him right back in the North Shore area days later.

"With news being generally a downer," Hastings said, "it was a really cool opportunity to have something generally cool, wholesome, sweet — that actually happened — to preserve that memory for kids."

Those purchasing the book can have it signed by Hastings, who said she has been approached to do readings in North Shore classrooms and to groups of younger children.

Those interested in ordering a copy of "Shoebert: The Traveling Seal" can do so here or by calling The Book Shop of Beverly Farms Book Shop, 40 West Street in Beverly, at 978-927-2122.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)