Editorial
Front Page - Friday, March 5, 2010
Chattanooga author releases book for young readers
David Laprad
Chattanooga author Lynn Grobler Pomeroy shows off her new book, “Curly, Randi and the Poultry Show,” the story of a young chicken named Curly who spends his days making trouble with his best friend, Randi. Pomeroy will be reading from “Curly” at Rock Point Books on March 13 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- David Laprad
Chattanooga author Lynn Grobler Pomeroy is celebrating the nationwide release of her new book, “Curly, Randi and the Poultry Show,” the story of a young chicken named Curly who loves the farm on which he lives and spends his days making trouble with his best friend, Randi.
When Curly puts Randi’s life in danger, Randi gets angry. To get back in his pal’s good graces, Curly must learn to be considerate and get to know the other breeds of chickens with which he lives. Later, when Farmer John announces he’ll be taking some of the chickens to the big poultry show, Curly and Randi vow to work as hard as possible to be included.
The story reveals whether or not Curly will be able to overcome his mischievousness and stay true to his friend or if he’ll endanger himself and Randi once again, all for the sake of adventure.
While the book will appeal to young readers, Pomeroy says she wrote it for people of all ages. “A friend of mine started reading the book to her 3-year-old,” she says, “and the child didn’t want to go to sleep because she was too interested in what was going to happen next. My grandson, whose 9, has read it seven times. And the grownups that have book have enjoyed it so much, they’ve read it more than once.”
“I wanted to teach the whole world about the different kinds of chickens that exist,” she says, “and show everyone how important chickens are to human beings.”
Published by Tate Publishing and Enterprises, “Curly” is available through bookstores nationwide and online at barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.
Pomeroy was born in Ladysmith, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa and raised in Port Elizabeth, Cape Province. She finished her schooling in Bethlehem in the Free State and then lived in various towns before settling down in Pretoria.
Although Pomeroy furthered her education at Durban Business College, she also enjoyed writing stories, creating watercolor paintings and doing needlework. Her mother, a kindergarten teacher, would read her stories to her students and then let her know whether or not her latest yarn was a hit. “I learned what children liked and didn’t like,” Pomeroy says.
Emboldened by her success with a small cluster of kids, Pomeroy in 1970 submitted
one of her stories to the
South African Broadcasting Corporation, which adapted the tale for a children’s program called “Siembamba.” While she continued to write, and came close to being published on one occasion (the deal feel through when the man who’d expressed an interest in releasing a collection of her stories passed away unexpectedly), Pomeroy’s works never went public again — until she came up with a story about a young chicken with curly feathers.
“I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a frizzle chicken,” Pomeroy says. “I thought I’d write a story about a chicken with feathers that curled up. Then I got in touch with the chairman of the South African Poultry Association, and he told me about the frizzle.”
Curly, then, is a special breed of chicken from India. Throughout his story, he learns about the other kinds of chickens in the world, including ones with ornamental tails, feathery claws and spectacular combs. “I wrote the story to bring back the hobby of raising exotic chickens. It had died out,” she says.
While working for the Department of Manpower (now called the Department of Labor), Pomeroy wrote a nine-page treatment of “Curly” in her native language, Afrikaans. After receiving a green card in February 1998, she moved to America to help a friend care for his semi-invalid grandmother. Six months later, she met the man who would become her husband.
“My husband always asks me where I get my ideas,” she says. “I live my stories. I put myself in them.”
Pomeroy was already immersed in chickens when she wrote “Curly,” as she’d always been passionate about exotic and ornamental fowl. At one time, she and her husband had so many chickens living on their Chattanooga property, they corralled them and asked Luther Masingill to give them away on his radio program.
In time, a friend of Pomeroy’s translated “Curly” into English, and then the mother-in-law of one of Pomeroy’s sons from a previous marriage edited the story to improve its readability. When the editors at Tate Publishing took a look at the final result, they loved it, says Pomeroy. Once the book reached print, it nine pages had been feathered out to 174.
Pomeroy will be reading from “Curly” and signing copies of the book at Rock Point Books on March 13 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Just like when she’d give her mother something new to read to her students, Pomeroy is eagerly anticipating what the kids and parents of Chattanooga have to say about her frizzled hero.
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