September 13, 2006

Clarkston author debuts book at Art in the Park
by PAUL KAMPE
of the Clarkston News

Visitors to the Art in the Pak festival have a chance to see a local author up close.

Barbara Johns, of Clarkston, will sign copies of hew new children's book The Cat in the Candle Factory to be released this Friday.

She will sign books in Depot Park from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday and Johns will make a stop at the Springfield Township Library on September 26 at 7 p.m.

Johns revisits a place with fond memories, the infamous Davisburg Candle Factory on Broadway Street (in Davisburg, Michigan).

The new work builds on her first story, The Cat in the Candle Factory, a story about ... an actual feline occupant of the store, which Johns and her husband owned for four years in the early 1980's. The factory is the reason the couple moved to the area. Upon working the shop, Johns said the cat lived there and stayed after the couple left.

Johns said Christmastime is the busiest time in the candle-making calendar year and Christmas is the story of how the store-dwelling cat, Midnight, deals with the introduction of a kitten named Elvis.

"It was a natural extension of the first book, which ended rather abruptly (with Elvis's entrance)," Johns said.

Midnight contemplates running away to another store (Clarkston's Country Store on Main Street) because she thinks there are more nooks and crannies filled with mice, giving her purpose again.

"This is the story of two cats trying to make sense of each other," Johns said.

Carolyn Stich of Holland, Michigan provided the illustrations for both (books).

Stich and Johns walked through Clarkston last year and came up with the idea to incorporate the country store into the second book. Johns said local residents are having fun seeing landmarks in a published work.

"People really love it," Johns said.

Johns is going against the grain in both publishing and promoting her work, serving as Steeple Ridge Press, the books' publisher. 

Johns said it is more difficult for children's literature authors to get into the business if they are not already established or a celebrity. (But self-publishing mean doing multiple jobs) which can be a setback because an author cannot focus solely on creating new material. 

"You have to put on your publisher's hat, you can't just sit there and write," Johns said. It's challenging, but I love it."

Johns is from Ohio and she moved to Michigan when she graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She has written articles for the Detroit Free Press and magazine articles.

"I've been a writer my whole life," Johns said.

She has lived in the community for the past 20 years and also worked as publish relation director for Clarkston Community Schools for ten years.

For more information on Johns and her associates, visit www.steepleridgepress.com.