Florida Library hosts local farm book author

Florida - Hudson Valley magazine called “I Grew Up On A Farm” by Alan K. Lewis “one of the finest Hudson-Valley related children’s books we’ve seen in ages.” Other publications have also offered similar endorsements of Lewis’ book, whose illustrations by Warwick’s Bob Fletcher have received equal praise. Last Saturday afternoon Lewis visited the Florida Public Library dressed in his farmer clothes, loaded down with his books and vintage poultry artifacts to describe that early life on his parents’ poultry farm. An assistant principal at the Maple Hill Elementary School in Middletown, Lewis’ office is just a few short miles from that farm in the Pilgrims Corners area. During his commute to school, Lewis frequently thought of that farm and felt that “something of that past way of life - the life of the American farmer - needed to be preserved for future generations.” Lewis wrote the text. Fletcher took Lewis’ old black and white photographs and re-created the background around them in colorful illustrations in a method rather unique and appealing to young and old readers alike. A gathering of some of those young readers at the Florida Public Library had the opportunity to relive Lewis’ childhood on the farm and were able to try their hand at expanding their own personal photographs. Both Lewis and Fletcher have tentatively accepted an invitation to bring their book and to speak briefly at the Florida Historical Society’s Seward Day program on May 20 at the S. S. Seward Institute in Florida. Four copies of that book will be donated to the local libraries by the historical society.