Gilford resident Allison Stewart and her six-year-old son, Rylan recently co-authored two children's books together that are now available for purchase through Amazon.
"I was the inspiration!" exclaims Rylan, "I came up with the ideas."
The books were written during the pandemic, amid lockdowns while being stuck at home.
Allison is a single mom who owns a spa and salon in Cookstown. With her business forced to close for the better part of the year and Rylan at home doing online learning, they decided to make the best of the situation and started their book project.
"It was something I wanted to do, something special for us that he will always have," she explained.
She thought, "Let's put a positive spin on all of this craziness and do something fun, exciting, and memorable."
Allison a self-described creative with an active imagination. She grew up in the country on a hobby farm in Bradford. Her creative gene was passed onto Rylan who loves to play and tell stories.
During the lockdowns, Allison researched how to self-publish and connected with illustrator Denis Proulx online who helped bring her and Rylan's stories to life.
The books revolve around main character 'Sammy the Salamder' and friends as they experience new adventures together.
The idea for Sammy's character came from Rylan after going salamander hunting up north last summer at his grandparents' house. This is where he and Alison spent a lot of their time during quarantine.
The first book Dance Your Beans Out follows Sammy and friends Theo and Colin on their first day of Kindergarten. Theo and Colin are Rylan's friends in real life who he named the characters in the books after.
Starting school can be both exciting and stressful for students and parents. New routines, new friends, and new spaces can be overwhelming, so she wanted to write a story that helped kids with their first-day jitters. Allison and Rylan wanted to write a story to help kids to feel comfortable going to school.
In the book, Sammy experiences all the same things Rylan did in Junior Kindergarten, from circle time to recess, to 'dancing their beans out' at lunch.
After their first book was published, they started writing their second one, The Adventures in Humid Forest. This one is about Sammy and his friends exploring and getting lost in the forest.
This story was based on a true experience Allison and Rylan had last summer when they got lost in Mono Forest.
It was a warm, summer day and the pair had parked their truck and headed out for a 45-minute hike along a trail. Along the way, they took a wrong turn and ended up in an unfamiliar area.
"We were probably about two kilometres away from my truck," Alison recalled, noting at the time nothing was open and there was hardly anyone nearby to ask for help.
Three hours later, after some help from passerbyers, they made it back to their vehicle.
"It was so stressful," she said, remembering how hard she tried to remain calm for Rylan's sake, pretending they weren't lost but rather on an 'adventure'.
They recently connected with the one woman who helped them get back to their truck while lost and sent her a copy of the new book.
"This isn't something you do to make money at," said Alison, noting it was more of a passion project and something for her and Rylan to do together during a stressful time in life.
Currently, the pair are working on their third book, about Sammy getting a pet dog. Another true story, based on Alison and Rylan's new puppy, Ivy.
