By CECILIA GONZALES
Special to the NEWS
(Photo by Cecilia Gonzales)
Local author Gwen Cowgill is seen in San Benito with a copy of her new book, “The ‘Other’ Nancy Drew.” Cowgill also has another book that she is planning for release soon.
A story idea from nearly 20 years ago will finally be published as local author Gwendolyn Cowgill discovered the right illustrator for her second book, “The ‘Other’ Nancy Drew.”
“I was a teacher and wanted my master’s degree in Early Childhood Education, and was taking a class in Children’s Literature,” said Cowgill. Through her professor’s inspiration, Cowgill decided to create a story of her own. “While she was talking, I started writing this story down, ‘Nancy drew on the walls, Nancy drew in the halls,’ she said.
“I could picture her [Nancy] in my head, but I’m not an artist. I kept that notebook all those years, and when I met Sarah Book Publishing, I got the notebook out,” Cowgill explained. “I couldn’t draw the pictures that I wanted, but I could explain them. For example, on the first page I would say ‘A picture of a little girl with curly red hair drawing on the walls, and that her art is far more sophisticated than a girl her age because she’s gifted,’” she said. “Then when this artist came up with this, I said ‘Yes, yes, that’s it.’”
Throughout the story, Nancy’s last name ‘Drew’ serves as both a noun and verb. “The idea came because of the play on the word ‘drew,’ said Cowgill. “Nancy Drew, back in my day when I was a young girl, was a mystery solver. In order to talk about art, it was easy for me to say the other Nancy Drew, and then use it in a cute way,” explained Cowgill.
Cowgill’s children book revolves around a little girl who is passionate about drawing, and expresses herself throughout her home, and eventually grows up to be a talented artist. Through the story, Cowgill expresses the idea of parents helping their children with their talents, in order for them to grow up and “be able to express themselves in an adult world using their talents in a career.”
“Take a little boy for example, that gets into everything and takes everything apart, and there’s screws and bolts and nuts all over the floor,” she said. “It’s about him just as much as it is about Nancy, when he grows up he’s probably going to be a great mechanic or someone who can fix everything,” she explained.
Cowgill says the ultimate idea that can be taken from the book is exploration. “It’s about exploration of talents and gifts, and how as an adult, we can express those talents and they’re not going to be smooshed down if parents, teachers, counselors, and everyone who is associated with the children, help them grow these talents into adulthood,” she said.
Having experience as Cowgill is now a retired Pre Kinder teacher, she has taught and seen many children with potential talents. “Children so many times get in trouble for expressing themselves, and when I was teaching, I would meet kids that had such talent,” she said.
Cowgill hopes to get her message across through multiple audiences, not only for children, but to adults as well. “I want my book to be used in Preschool and Pre Kinder classes, and even for teenagers who are in an art class,” she said. “I want them to know that their dream can come true, never to put their dream aside or to believe they’re not good enough,” she said. “That their dream is valuable, and this book is to teach the worth of a child,” she adds.
Cowgill’s next goal is almost fulfilled, as she has already written her next story, “Coal Miner’s Son,” which is waiting to be published by Sarah Book Publishing. The story takes place in West Virginia, and is about a coal miner’s son growing up. “The story is actually about my first husband, and the son I’m talking about is him,” she said. “When I was married, he used to tell me all these stories that stuck with me my whole life. I never forgot all those stories, and I always told myself ‘I’m going to write a book about this’, she said.
Meet Cowgill and get a signed edition of her newly published book, “The ‘Other’ Nancy Drew” from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 31 at Beyond Arts Gallery in Harlingen.
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