A former Chilliwack school teacher who wrote a children’s Christmas story for his own kids 30 years ago has had the tale published into a book.
Gord Yakimow, 75, wrote The Grod Family’s Christmas Lights in 1992 when his children were young and he would read it every year to them during family Christmas gatherings. More recently, he has been reading it to his grandchildren as well.
At the encouragement of his now-adult children, he finally had it published.
“The characters and events in the book are loosely based on members of my family, and on family events… with much embellishment and humour and exaggeration,” Yakimow said. “And there are several more stories ready for publication in what I hope one day will be labeled ‘The Grods’ Series.’”
In the story, despite Papa Grod’s best efforts, the Grod family’s Christmas lights have always looked “scruffy” and “hodge-podgey” and “tacky” according to Mama Grod. But now, with a fresh new set of high-quality Christmas lights in Mama Grod’s favourite colours, and an eager work-crew to help him out (the three GrodKids), Papa Grod is confident that this year’s family light display will be the best ever in the Valley of the EverGreens. What could possibly go wrong?
The artistic advisor for the book is Yakimow’s son John, who conceptualized the book’s characters and did the initial illustrations before passing the designs on to its final illustrator.
Gord Yakimow was a senior English and creative writing teacher at Chilliwack Secondary School. He chaired the organizing committee for the Chilliwack Young Authors’ Conference, which brought leading Canadian writers to Chilliwack to work with students from the city’s middle and senior schools.
Since his retirement in 2007, Yakimow has been a widely-published writer of works on both travel and on wilderness experiences. Some of his articles have appeared in The Chilliwack Progress.
This is his first stab at children’s literature.
He’ll be at Coles in the Cottonwood Centre for a book-signing session on Saturday, Dec. 3 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.
The Grod Family’s Christmas Lights is available online though both Amazon and Indigo, in hard-cover, soft-cover, and ebook variations.
It is also available in bookstores across Canada, in the US, and in the UK, including Coles in the Cottonwood Centre. For more, go to thegrods.com.
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