Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, December 25, 2020
OGLE COUNTY NEWS
6
FORRESTON
Forrestville educator pens kids’ Christmas book “Will Santa Stop Here” addresses COVID-19 quarantine and kids this Christmas season BY JEFF HELFRICH
jhelfrich@shawmedia.com The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted children in Christy Garnhart’s classroom to ask her a very important question —“Is Santa still coming this year?” As her answer, Garnhart decided to write a book about the subject. “Will Santa Stop Here?: A Quarantine Christmas Carol” was published earlier this month and is available on Amazon. Garnhart is a curriculum director for the Forrestville Valley School District and lives in German Valley with her husband and their five children. “It’s about a little girl worried about Santa being able to come this year,” Garnhart said. “She’s worried and goes to bed. He comes and crashes his sleigh. Rudolph has a mask on. A girl wonders how toys were made. Elves are on a Zoom call. The little girl finds the elves.” Publishing a children’s book is usually a 9-12 month process. The problem was, she didn’t come up with the idea until October. Luckily, Garnhart met an illustrator online and they were able to get the book done and published in time for the holiday season. Nicole Roberts illustrated the book remotely from Buenos Aires. The book isn’t Garnhart’s first. She wrote an Easter-themed book that released in March right before the COVID-19 shutdown. “I started writing stories when I was a therapist,” Garnhart said. “It worked with kids with autism and we write stories that way. I realized I had been doing it already. I was able to learn a lot.” Garnhart has spent time promoting the book on social media and it’s for sale at local businesses in her area. The Leaf River Library offered a reading of it for storytime. There was also a reading to a class at Forreston Grade School. The book was written in the midst of a hectic time in Garnhart’s work life as an educator during COVID-19. She works primarily with teachers on creating professional development activities for kids. “It’s been a lot of ups and downs,” Garnhart said. “We’ve been in session in-person the whole time. We’re all just trying to figure out how to manage. With my five kids, three in school, telling them they have to wear masks. The administration, making sure everything is safe.” The book can be purchased on Amazon.
Forrestville Valley School District Curriculum Director Christy Garnhart reads a book to a class at Forreston Grade School.
Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@shawmedia.com
TOP LEFT: Christy Garnhart holds a copy of her book. TOP RIGHT & BELOW: Garnhart’s book, “Will Santa Stop Here? - A Quarantine Christmas Carol,” features many of the unique elements that defined 2020 , such as masks, using sanitizer and video conferences. On these pages, elves meet by video conference to discuss building toys for all the good girls and boys.
