Former resident sponsors family story contest for kids

Former Sparta resident Connie McIntyre, now a subsidy publisher in St. Louis, Missouri, has launched the first-ever international Writing Contest for One-of-a-Kind Kids: The Grannie Annie—A Family Story Celebration. She is joined in the effort by another St. Louis publisher for children, Fran Hamilton of Portico Books. “We started with the idea of a writing contest,” McIntyre said, “and it has grown into an international celebration!” McIntyre and Hamilton expect entries from around the world and are busy planning for ways to share the stories with the world community. Simply put, the mission of The Grannie Annie is to celebrate family stories. Students in grades 4-5 and 6-8, and homeschool or international students ages 9-14 are invited to interview their family story keepers and take notes. They are then encouraged to write, revise, and edit a story based on their interview and submit it to The Grannie Annie in January. “Not only will the young authors be preserving a piece of their family’s history,” McIntyre explained, “they will be making connections with earlier generations in their family, connections that will affect how they live in today’s world. Once you discover, for example, that your ancestors suffered discrimination as immigrants, you may feel and act differently toward today’s immigrants.” Selected stories from each submission category will be published in Grannie Annie, Vol. I in May 2006 — people everywhere will be able to enjoy, and learn from, the students’ stories. The Grannie Annie is the kind of celebration that gets better as more people participate. McIntyre and Hamilton invite children, parents, teachers, and others to take a look at www.TheGrannieAnnie.org . The web site includes all the information needed to participate. Connie McIntyre was a columnist and frequent contributor to The New Jersey Herald and The Sparta Independent in the late 1990s. She now publishes books for children and creates hand-bound keepsake books to help families preserve their stories. McIntyre is the author of Flowers for Grandpa Dan: A gentle story to help children understand Alzheimer’s disease and coauthor of Upside Downside Inside Out ~ Poems about Being a Kid. Both are available where books are sold and at www.BooksFromTheHeart.com.