Frederick natives and best friends create graphic novel ‘Dear Rosie’

“Dear Rosie,” a new, heartwarming graphic novel about friendship, was cocreated by real-life best friends and Frederick natives Meghan Boehman and Rachael Briner, and set right in town as well.

They’ll celebrate with a public launch at 2 p.m. July 22 at the Curious Iguana. They’ll also be at the Frederick Comic Con at the Brainstorm Comics table from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 23.

“Dear Rosie” (Knopf, Random House Kids) is a gentle and poignant book that reflects the creators’ own experience losing a close friend in high school. Without ever patronizing their audience, Boehman and Briner handle difficult topics like death, grief and depression with tenderness.

It tells the story of seventhgrader Millie, who has the best friends in the whole world: Florence, Claire, Gabby and Rosie. But when Rosie dies in a car accident, everything changes. Rocked by grief, the remaining four girls struggle to move on. Millie barely understands her normal preteen feelings, let alone the messy ones left behind by Rosie, so she outruns her emotions by throwing herself into a mystery: a cryptic notebook abandoned at her family’s laundromat. Could the clues in the notebook be related to Rosie?

Together, Millie and her friends embark on a journey to heal from the loss of Rosie and end up finding more than they ever could have even imagined.

The book is illustrated in a warm cottagecore style, set in a world with humanistic animals that serve to enhance the cozy feel.

Boehman and Briner now live in Los Angeles where they work in TV animation designing and painting background art for Warner Bros Animation, Bento Box Entertainment and Starburns Industries. They previously produced a four-year webcomic and several animated shorts.

“Dear Rosie” draws from their experiences of losing a close friend while they were in high school.

Community Days at Tabler Farm

The Shepherd University Agricultural Innovation Center at Tabler Farm is offering a new series, Community Days at Tabler Farm, to give the public the opportunity to visit the farm and take part in activities using plants to create nature-based items to take home.

Each event is free and open to the public and will end with either meditation, yoga, or drumming.

COMMUNITY DAYS EVENTS:

10 a.m. to noon July 15 — Botanical Drawing. Take a tour of Tabler Farm, see what plants, animals and insects make the farm their home. With the support of a guide, participants will tune into details of the gardens and create botanical drawings of what they see.

10 a.m. to noon July 29 — Wild Fermentation and Tea Tasting. Visitors will learn the many edible uses of herbs by touring the farm and focusing on the herb gardens. Participants will gather herbs and learn how to make soda, teas, and simple syrups with plants that are easy to grow at home.

10 a.m. to noon Aug. 26 — The Art of Floral Waters (hydrosols). Participants will touch, feel and smell the flowers and herbs at the farm and learn how to make floral waters at home.

For more information and to register, shepherd.edu/community-days-at-tabler-farm.