Lexington Author Visits Book Ends

As she sat around at Book Ends last Wednesday, Jane Sutton didn't know what to expect.

The Lexington children's book author was preparing to do a reading of her newest book, Don't Call Me Sidney. But being an author, Sutton is  never really sure who's going to make an appearance, and writing books for children makes it tougher as the ages of the children that may stop by can range from six months up to 12-years-old.

"This is a new book and this is my first story hour," Sutton said. "You never know who's going to show up."

Sutton didn't have to wait long as parents from around town filed into the cozy bookstore with their children, waiting to hear the new story. It's commonplace for Book Ends to have various local authors stop by and talk about their books, especially children's books.

"It's wonderful to have local authors come in and have these readings," said Book Ends employee Marilyn Racette. "And what makes it easier is the support we get from the community; they're very supportive of what we do."

"I come in for events here as often as I can," Sutton said. "This is a great book store, and it has such a big children's book section. There's a nice, homey feel to the store."

This story revolves around a pig – Sidney – who enjoys writing poems. Unfortunately, he struggles trying to find a word to rhyme his name with and he's unable to fit Sydney into a poem. The only word he can link to his name is kidney, and he doesn't like that.

Sidney decides to change his name to something he can rhyme. Throughout the book he continues to go through different combinations, trying to find the right poem. In the end, he finds the perfect solution.

Throughout the reading, Sutton had quite a lot of help from the crowd, as the children were able to recite parts of the book aloud.

"My son got it for his birthday," said Winchester resident Kristine Kamikawa, who brought her three children to the reading. "We got it a couple of days ago and this reading was perfect timing. We read the book last night and he was very excited to be able to meet the author."

Once the reading finished, Sutton had the children practice their own rhymes. They also were allowed to ask her any questions they had regarding the book.

Most of the inquiries were about the name of the characters and why Sidney was a pig, while in her previous book, The Trouble with Cauliflower, the main character was a koala.

She explained to the interested young readers that she does not get to choose what they look like; it's actually the illustrator who decides what animal fits with what character.

"I always like to give as much information about how author's write as I can," said Sutton who also appears at local schools on occasion explaining to them the writing process. "It's important that children understand how to write and how to revise and to keep improving their work."