With her first childrens book, This Thing Called Kindergarten, an award-winning best-seller, Dolly Venables of Huron is hoping her second book, Pester Lester, the Mischievous Moose, will meet the same success when it is released through self-publication Dec. 11.
The book is about a moose named Lester who is not mean, but loves to play practical jokes and what he sees as harmless tricks on his classmates. They finally come up with a plan to put an end to his mischievous pranks by turning it around and playing the pranks on Lester.
Does he like it? No, he does not, Venables said. Hes very confused, he doesnt understand why they are tricking him that way. All of a sudden it hits him and he realizes what hes done and that he owes his friends an apology.
The main idea of this book is to live by the Golden Rule to treat others the way you would be treated, she said.
Venables said she dedicated the book to her father, the late Lester Lackey.
I used to call him Pester Lester as my pet name for him, she said. He was not a prankster; my dad was pretty quiet. I believe he would be pleased with this book.
We are self-publishing, meaning were not going through a professional publisher, Venables said. We are doing this on our own. Its a little bit trial and error and we are learning a whole lot.
The first two days after the book is released on Dec. 11, people are encouraged to purchase a 99 cent E-book and leave a review on Amazon.
Thats how a book becomes a best-seller, Venables said.
Her book, This Thing Called Kindergarten, earned No. 1 in the following categories: childrens book on first day of school, childrens book on seasons, childrens book on school issues and childrens book on emotions and feelings.
Her first book was published by Landon Hail Press, and was actually featured on the Jumbotron in Times Square in September.
The ad ran for 24 hours on the fifth minute of every hour.
Venables traveled to New York Sept. 26-29 with her daughter, also a best-selling author, Chelsea Husum. Although it rained most of the time they were there, the day her promotion was scheduled to air on the Jumbotron turned out clear as a bell.
It was such a gorgeous day, Venables said. We were on the fifth minute of every hour that whole day. The weather was perfect. We just lucked out on that. We were so blessed.
Venables said the first time her image and book flashed on the huge screen she was overwhelmed.
It was quite emotional, she said. The first time it came up I got a little teary eyed.
She barely got home from New York when she and her husband packed up to travel to Florida to visit a nephew and his wife and see their new home. They arrived in Clairemont, Fla., on Oct. 3 with plans to return home Oct. 10. But while they were there, Hurricane Milton began to form, churning into Florida as a rapidly intensifying category 5 storm on Oct. 9.
We did not know it was coming, but the longer we were there it started to form, Venables said. We werent concerned with safety in their home. It was mainly the tornadoes. We just had very high winds and a lot of rain.
There were 126 tornado warnings, she added. It was dark, the wind was blowing 100 mph plus and it was raining.
The power was out for 12 hours, but her nephew had a generator that supplied all the power they needed to be comfortable through the storm. In the early afternoon the winds picked up and the rain, Venables said. By 8 a.m. the following morning it had passed, and we just had clean-up, branches and those sorts of things.
They had planned to fly back to Huron on Oct. 10, but after two cancelled flights they were finally able to book a flight home on Oct. 11.
As she finishes up final details for her Pester Lester book, Venables is also working on a third book which will be about her cancer journey.
It wont be near as much fun to write as a childrens book, she said. I had breast cancer. Its gone. Ive been cancer-free for seven years. There are a lot of different emotions Ive obviously come a long, long way, but its still there. I experience a lot of anger.
I decided its time to get it out there as a coping mechanism for myself, Venables said. I know there are a lot of people who have said, Yes, please, write the book and help others that are going through the same thing.
People are encouraged to check out her website, www.dollyvenables.com, to see information about her books.
Im giving away a free gift, a heart keychain that says Just be nice, she said. I think thats a great message.
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