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Local children’s author Kathie Hendricks has had two more books published, “A Day at the Beach” and “My Friend Andee.”
The 8- and 11-year-old characters, Bean and Tommy, are excited to go to the beach and wonder if they’ll see a shark.
Hendricks said one part of the story recreates a mishap in 2015 when her grown children helped her escape the pull of crashing waves on a California beach.
The other book follows the adventures of Bean’s imaginary friend, Andee, who is based on an imaginary friend that Hendrick’s daughter spoke of in childhood.
“When we moved to Luverne, Andee moved to New York City,” Hendricks recalled about 4-year-old Stephanie.
Her latest releases join four other books already on the market.
“Please Don’t Eat the Cupcakes” and “Backyard Hockey” were published in February of 2021.
“Here Come the Leprechauns” was released just ahead of St. Patrick’s Day in 2019, and her first book, “Walleyes and Watermelon: The Story of Summer at the Lake,” came out in January 2019.
Hendricks, a licensed in-home child care provider, said she had long dreamed of writing a children’s book, but it wasn’t until she had back surgery in 2017 that she found the time and motivation to do it.
By the end of her 10-week recuperation, Hendricks had written nine more children’s books, all neatly recorded in a stack of manuscripts ready to share with her publisher.
“Once I get an idea in my head, it doesn’t take very long to write,” she said. “It’s not a novel; children’s books are 20 pages or less.”
There are four more books from those original manuscripts awaiting publication.
She publishes under the pen name “Kate Henry” through Christian Faith Publishing in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
Her books are available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and in bookstores.