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Children's books mimic local author Chetkowski's life
By Kate Czaplinski
Enterprise and Sentinel: 11/18/2007
LEOMINSTER -- Emily Chetkowski has an array of misbehaving pets on her farm in
Fitchburg, including a parrot that whistles at pretty girls, and a dog that looks
in neighbors' windows.
Chetkowski uses her sometimes unusual, everyday happenings as inspiration for
her children's books.
Her first book, "Mabel Takes the Ferry," was inspired by the true story of
her dog taking a ferry to an island in Maine while the family was out sailing.
Chetkowski said Tuesday that the best part of writing her children's book is
spending time with the children who want to read them.
"I just love being around the kids, they say the funniest things sometimes,"
Chetkowski said. "One little girl told me a couple weeks ago that her family
owned her dog before she was invented."
Chetkowski arrived a few minutes late to Tuesday's book reading at the Leominster
Public Library because the star of Chetkowski's books was busy chasing chipmunks.
The 49-year-old author has been writing and publishing children's books since
1995, and is constantly holding book readings and visiting area schools with
her stories.
Chetkowski's most recent book, "Sister Sluggers," fills a void in the children's
book arena, the author said.
"There are so few books for girls about sports," Chetkowski said.
The author used true events of a summer in her childhood when she and her younger
sister Marianne played on opposing softball teams.
The story's climax involves the two sisters facing off at the championship game.
The growing popularity of the book was bolstered by a group called Play Ball USA
that contacted Chetkowski about sponsoring her book. Play Ball USA is an
after-school program that fights the childhood obesity epidemic by offering
students softball and baseball equipment in clinics and summer programs.
Play Ball USA already exists in 17 major cities in the U.S. and is looking to
expand into New England, Chetkowski said.
Part of Chetkowski's work with the organization includes traveling to conferences
to discuss the program and "Sister Sluggers."
"I was just in Louisville, Kentucky, for a week," Chetkowski said Tuesday. "A lot
of softball coaches purchased copies of the book for their team."
The author plans to travel with the group to Pennsylvania in March and possibly Nashville.
Chetkowski can travel indefinitely with the group, but wants to stay close to
her family and home.
Chetkowski's 17-year-old daughter, Hannah, accompanied her mother Tuesday to the book
reading. Hannah Chetkowski was embarrassed when her mother decided to read a book
written about her, called "Pumpkin Smile."
The short story follows Hannah in the first grade when she began losing her teeth.
"When she was little, she loved it," Emily Chetkowski said of her daughter's starring role.
Hannah and Emily Chetkowski collaborated on a seventh book, titled
"The Ugliest Pig You Ever Saw."
The story was inspired by an advertisement in Uncle Henry's Weekly Classifieds with the same
name as the book. The ad offered a free pot-bellied pig to anyone who wanted it. Chetkowski
called the number listed and found a woman who didn't know anything about the ad or pig but
had already received hundreds of phone calls from interested people.
The story weaves a tale of the woman and the pig.
Hannah, a budding photographer, took photographs of parts of a pig to use throughout the
book. At the story's end, readers finally see the whole pig.
"It sends the message that you don't really know what something is until you see it,"
Chetkowski said of the book. "It teaches tolerance and it teaches not to judge."
Chetkowski plans to release the book next fall, but said life is too busy now to promote
a new book.
"In this business, you really have to balance promoting and writing," Chetkowski said.
"Three quarters of my time goes to promotion and one quarter actually goes to writing." |
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