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The book that she had written as a gift for her aunt's 75th birthday and had then put away to be forgotten for almost 15 years, "yelled to be done" local author Nancy Baumgartner, of Trout Run, said recently.
Now, "Someday, Said the Little Girl," is a reality and Baumgartner is set to launch the book that is based on her relationship with her aunt growing up.
"It literally started out with a story for my aunt on her 75th birthday," Baumgartner said recently.
"I thought, what can I get her? At 75, she didn't need anything. But, I thought. I remember a lot of things about Aunt Francis, so I'll just write her story," she said.
The story, which was originally two pages long, told of how much her aunt had influenced Baumgartner's life. After gifting it to her aunt, she put it away and didn't do anything with it for awhile except send it to a niece in Colorado who was a teacher and loves books. Her niece wrote back that she thought it was a really good story, but again Baumgartner just put it away again and didn't do anything further with it.
Then about two years ago, her niece again urged her to find an illustrator and get the book published because she felt it was really good.
"She was so adamant about it. So again, I put this away because I thought it was really nice that she did it but so didn't think anything about it," she said.
In fact, the book is dedicated to Miriam Griggs Fisk, Baumgartner's niece who encouraged her to finally publish it.
It was while she was putting together a book of her family's genealogy that Baumgartner met Amanda Emig, the artist whose drawings illustrate Baumgartner's story.
"When I walked into COPI, Inc. early in 2022 it was to have my genealogy book printed and bound. I saw Amada's beautiful artwork, so after the genealogy book was finished, I asked her to take a look at a children's story idea that had been in my files since 1997," Baumgartner said.
"I read through it and I just got teary eyed," said Emig, who owns COPI, Inc. in Montoursville.
"I was like, Nancy, this is really good. It's just really good. And yes, can I please help you. It just kind of flowed from there," Emig said.
"I connected with this story because I could immediately 'see' the images that would bring this story to life and I liked the idea of encouraging children to look to their own memories," she added.
The two collaborated on what the drawings could be like with Baumgartner bringing Emig photos of herself as a little girl.
"I wanted the character in the story to represent her and then she brought in a picture of her and her mother and I tried to draw it similar," Emig said.
"It was just kind of picturing the things she said and then bringing them to life," Emig said.
"I could never have envisioned the way Amanda connected with the story and was willing to interpret it with her beautiful illustrations," said Baumgartner. "It became much more than I imagined."
"She was enthusiastic from the very first. That is so encouraging. She helped so much to have me get in my mind what it was I was really trying to say with this, as opposed to it just being a birthday present. Did it say more and, and it did, but I didn't realize that until she was able to bring that out and to you know, to see the images of it," Baumgartner said.
The story is her story, the images in the book illustrate the memories of her childhood.
"My mom and I lived alone. My dad had died, my family, my siblings were all gone. And aunt Francis would drag my cousin's over there, and they didn't have a lot of money. And she made these beautiful sweaters for these kids," Baumgartner said.
"We had a pear tree. We had an apple tree. She gathered them up, she'd make stuff. And she took me to that Christmas party. Everything that's in there actually happened exactly, almost exactly the way that we've described it. I love writing about people and and I love giving people the opportunity to think about how they would interpret their life. Their their words their images," she said.
For Baumgartner, who has loved books all her life, "the greatest gift a parent can give a child is the love of reading."
"Through my experiences writing about history and genealogy, I recognize the importance of preserving the memories and stories of older generations," she said.
She hopes that her book will make people aware that "children are always watching what we are doing and saying and, as adults, we do impress their minds and memories in ways we never suspect."
"We would be delighted to have our work let children know they can make their own stories with words and drawings. Maybe we can be a catalyst for the next generation of writer and illustrators. Someday," she said.
And for those who have their own stories "yelling" at them to be written, Baumgartner said, "write it down."
"You do not have to go to the biggest publishing house in the country, because chances are your manuscript will never see the light of day. But think in terms of how I can bring this to life? In my circle, with my finances and with my abilities and who do I know," she said.
She urged people not to hide their talent, whatever form it takes.
"Talent is such an important part of a person, whether it's music, or writing, or art, or dancing, whatever. And too many people, I think, don't let their talent out. Doesn't have to be big. You don't have to be a world known name. You can just be a big fish in a little pond and you're happy swimming around. I think everybody has talent and I think they're doing themselves an injustice by not not doing it. They don't have to be perfect," she said.
Although Frances Mary Pfleegor Hennigan, Baumgartner's aunt, passed away in 2003, her story is retold every time a child reads how little Nancy Baumgartner grew up to "wear gold hoop earrings and a brightly colored sweater in honor of the aunt who...without every know it...has taught me the subtle lessons of life."
The book is being launched today at the "Fly into Spring Dreams Air Market" at the Williamsport Regional Airport terminal. It is also for sale at COPI, Inc. and through Baumgartner at: nancyb1324@gmail.com.