Saturday, September 7, 2019

The Story Behind the Story by Becky Van Vleet





Book Blurb

Come step through a door into Talitha’s world, a little skirt who comes to life when she meets many girls in a special family.  She is happy as she travels to their homes for their two-year-old photographs.  But Talitha encounters problems when she least expects it.  Filled with colorful and detailed illustrations, young children will delight in this heartwarming story about a little skirt’s adventures.


Bio

Becky Van Vleet is a retired teacher and principal and a former homeschool mom. She and her husband make their home in Colorado Springs, where Becky enjoys oil painting, gardening, and hiking and biking in the great outdoors. Becky relishes spending time with her family and especially reading books to her grandchildren.




How I Came Up with Book Idea

I was inspired to write this children’s story to preserve the family history behind a little skirt that has been traveling in our family for more than 70 years, three generations.  A hand-sewn skirt was given to my mother, Alberta, by her childhood friend in 1948 for my oldest sister’s second birthday.  My mother took her first daughter to a professional studio to have her picture taken in the little skirt, honoring her friend, Omadeen.  Alberta saved the skirt and a tradition was started when three more daughters were born. 

Over time, the four daughters began to pass the little skirt around to one another when they had daughters of their own, the second generation.  The tradition of the little girls in our family getting a professional picture wearing the skirt at age two held fast and continued on into the third generation, Alberta’s great-granddaughters.  As our family scattered around, the little skirt began to fly on airplanes to reach all of the little two-year-old girls in the third generation in various locations throughout the United States!

When I set out to write a fun tale about this traveling skirt, I decided the skirt would be personified and I wanted to come up with a meaningful name for her.  Talitha’s name means “little girl” from Mark, chapter four, in the New Testament. 


 My website is:  www.beckyvanvleet.com

The theme/tagline for my website is "Where Creating and Preserving Memories Happen" which coincides with my inspiration to
write this children's book, based upon a true family story.




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