May 19, 2013
A local author and illustrator pair are launching their new series of books. But it's not your average book launch.
This pair is a grandmother and granddaughter. The grandmother is a former curriculum coordinator for Beaufort County Schools. The illustrator is her six-year-old granddaughter, a kindergartner at Eastern Elementary in Washington.
Isybilla Gee had a recognizable gift at a young age and her family only encouraged it. Her grandmother, Pat Calfee, says, "She has all these characters in her imagination. So she would send, they would send me a list of characters that she wanted to draw. So that's where the books "Lizzie the Lizard," and "Harry the Hippo," they came out of her imagination.
The author's likeness, drawn by her own granddaughter's hand, graces one book. Issy's animal creations and even self-portrait make up the rest.
Calfee says, " I would just write a story based on her characters."
Together they've created an 11 book series called "Issy Books."
Wednesday, about a month before their big launch on Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobles, Issy shared the series with her class.
At that reading today, each of Issy's classmates took home a signed copy of one of the 11 books.
