Introducing the Adventures of Brown Bear and Black Bear

My unintended first book

My first book was published this year. It wasn’t something I had planned or was even involved in the process of. My manuscript that I have spent years working on is looking on like:

So how did this happen?

My fairy godmother - AKA my Aunt Lauranne.

Growing up, my sisters and I spent a not insignificant amount of time at our grandparents’ house. Grandpa taught us how to play crib, pound nails into random pieces of wood, and harvest bountiful crops of potatoes and giant sunflowers.

But something else he taught us was how to tell a story. Grandpa Hemmingway, or Lester as he was known to everyone else, always told us bedtime/naptime stories that revolved around Brown Bear and Black Bear. They usually had to do with one or both of them being tricksters. Turns out Brown Bear and Black Bear were an intergenerational pair. My dad and aunts remember similar stories from their youth. No two stories were the same, but they shared similarities.

Years ago, my aunt asked me to try and write some Brown Bear Black Bear stories. I wrote one, emailed it off to her, and promptly forgot about it.

This year, when I went to visit, she had a children’s book on the coffee table. The Adventures of Brown Bear and Black Bear by Christy Hemmingway, illustrated by Danielle Lee. She had done this as a gift for the younger generation that would never hear the Brown Bear Black Bear stories from their great grandfather.

It was a beautiful sentiment, a gift of my writing, bound in real pages, with real illustrations accompanying them. Frankly, everyone should have an Aunt Lauranne in their lives, cheering on their passions. We are all better for her. She arranged for me to sign copies for all the younger generation and then let me know it is available on Amazon. So, you too can hang out with Brown Bear and Black Bear.

They are a sweet pair, the story is outside of my normal writing style, and my first children’s book. But it feels right to have a children’s book. One that my kids can appreciate the lesson in the story. That we need to be good to our friends, and we need to stand up for ourselves when our friends let us down. I feel like it’s a story that Grandpa would be proud of.

Who knows, maybe there will be more Brown Bear and Black Bear adventures to come. But not until I get the Seven Embers (aforementioned manuscript) sorted out.

In the meantime, I plan on being active in this space. Talking about some of the books I have read from local authors in the last year, and the writing process and how it is mostly me banging my brain against the inside of my skull.

Thanks 2024 for being the year I was first published, ripping off the proverbial Band-Aid and getting me focused on my 2025 writing goals. Maybe I’ll post about that later….