A new children’s book is helping support youth literacy programs in Christian County while honoring a longtime advocate of reading and education.
Francene Gilmer, executive director of the Christian County Literacy Council, said the project began with a local leadership initiative.
click to download audioShe said the Literacy Council was excited to bring the project to life.
“We were just delighted,” she said. “It’s taken us a little while to do it, to complete it, but we got the finished product, and we are more than honored to be able to say this is all about Mrs. Pickle, who was just a staunch supporter of the Literacy Council.”
The book, titled The Day Vida Learned to Read, centers around an onion named Vida—a nod to the organization’s annual Vidalia onion fundraiser.
“Why Vida? Because we sell Vidalia onions,” Gilmer said. “We wanted to just kind of have the title representative of the product.”
The story follows Vida as she explores Hopkinsville and learns to read with the help of Mrs. Pickle.
“It’s about an onion who is making her way through Hopkinsville to learn about the city, but Mrs. Pickle is teaching her words as we go along, and there’s some pages that talk about how to pronounce some of the words, but it’s written at a level that the story is great,” Gilmer said. “We’re hoping that it gets kids excited to know more about our city, one, but two, to just to read it, to read it to understand it.”
The book, which runs between 20 and 24 pages, is available for $10. Proceeds will go toward creating more literacy programs for local youth.
“This is about a 20-page, yeah, maybe 20, 24-page book that is a story, and it costs $10,” she said.
click to download audioThere’s also a deal for supporters who participate in the onion sale.
“If you purchase a bag of our Vidalia onions that came in just today, if you purchase a bag of onions, you can get the book for $8,” Gilmer said. “Without onions, it’s $10.”
Books are available for purchase at the Hopkinsville Visitor Center on 9th Street and at the museum.
