A Throggs Neck woman has turned a great personal tragedy into something positive with the publication of her first children’s book, which deals with the mourning process.
KelleAnne Harmon tells the story of the time that her 10-month old son Dylan, nicknamed “Bookaloo” by her fiance and hi father Fernando Almestica, spent together. The book, illustrated by Martha Ormiston and published by City Island’s GP Honey Tomes LLC, is a first person narrative addressed to Dylan from his father called “Bookaloo, I Love You!”
The project got off the ground when Harmon met GP Honey Tomes publisher Angela Parino at a City Island arts and crafts fair in 2011 and Parino thought the topic of mourning the loss of a father or relative would be a good subject for a children’s book in a health and wellness series that GP Honey Tomes was publishing,
Harmon said. Prior to the chance meeting, the book was originally designed to be a keepsake for her young son, Harmon said.
“She has a wellness series and thought that it was the perfect concept because there are a lot of children who have lost parents, and don’t know where they go when they pass away,” Harmon said.
The 24-page color illustrated book is about the father and son’s short journey together.
“Bookaloo, I love You!” conveys to any child grieving the loss of a parent, relative, or loved one, that when someone leaves the earth, they are not totally forever gone, Harmon stated.
The book has a separate sub-plot that is based around the gastric bypass surgery that cost her fiance his life after he suffered internal bleeding in 2008, Harmon stated.
“He had the surgery because he wanted to be here for our son,” said Harmon of her love, who was 42 and had two adult children when he passed. “He did it for all the right reasons, but obviously seven days after the surgery, on Thanksgiving day, he passed away in front of our home as he was walking through a gate.”
The book attempts to convey the message that if all people looked alike, and acted alike, the world would be a very boring place, Harmon stated.
The text of the book does not get explicit and does not identify the type of surgery that causes its narrator to pass away.
The book’s narrator explains to the child:
“I started to feel real sick and an angel came to take me to a happy place called Heaven where I could watch over you forever.”
Both the father and the child remain unnamed in the book, except for “Bookaloo,” which was Fernando’s nickname for Dylan when he was born, Harmon said.
To order your copies of “Bookaloo, I Love You,” you may visit the GP Honey Tomes website at honeytomes.com or order from the author directly at kellydylan115@verizon.net.
A hardcover version and Spanish language edition of the book are both in the works, Harmon stated. The book is printed by Country Pines Printing in Indiana.
