COLLINSVILLE, Okla. — It’s thrilling to see individuals take an curiosity of their native historical past — however much more so after they’re 9 years outdated.
2 Information Oklahoma sat down with one Collinsville woman and her mother, ensuring native children know their metropolis’s previous.
All of the outdated, brick buildings lining Collinsville’s Fundamental Road have a narrative to inform. One woman and her mother need children to know these tales, so that they’re publishing a kids’s e book on this metropolis’s historical past.
“We love Collinsville,” mentioned Linda Tucker. “We simply love historical past.”
The Tucker household purchased an outdated constructing downtown and spent two years reworking it. Now, it’s the household enterprise, serving espresso to locals and people passing by.
“Throughout that course of, we discovered loads in regards to the historical past of the constructing, but in addition discovered in regards to the historical past of the city and simply all the enjoyable, quirky tales that occurred right here over time,” mentioned Linda.
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Maddie Tucker and her mother, Linda, are actually making an attempt to share them.
“My mother was on the telephone with certainly one of her pals, and he or she wished to write down a kids’s e book, and I assumed an concept of writing a historical past e book with canines,” Maddie recalled. “After which my mother began moving into it, so we simply began writing it.”
The e book is named “Lizzy’s Collinsville Journey.”
Maddie Tucker, Linda Tucker & Valerie Unruh
When requested why it’s vital to do that, Maddie replied, “I simply suppose it may be vital for everybody to know the historical past of their city, they usually can study extra from only a e book.”
The principle character is their canine, Lizzy, who finds a treasure map, goes off on an journey, and learns about enjoyable treasures hidden all through the town.
“I simply suppose placing it in like a e book with animals and stuff may make it extra enjoyable,” mentioned Maddie, “and they may not even notice that they are truly studying some historical past.”
“I feel the toughest half, at the very least for me, was truly determining what tales to inform as a result of there’s so a lot of them,” mentioned Linda.
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They wound up specializing in ten buildings within the downtown space. At every constructing, Lizzy meets a resident who offers her details about its historical past.
They even employed native artist Valerie Unruh to show their phrases into footage.
Maddie Tucker, Linda Tucker & Valerie Unruh
Linda advised us after they began this challenge, Maddie was “engaged on her studying expertise and her writing expertise, and he or she was struggling just a bit bit.”
“It has been enjoyable for me, as a mother, to look at her progress and strengthen,” she added.
The Tuckers plan to donate some books to the native faculties and libraries so it may be a useful resource for all.
They anticipate to lastly publish “Lizzy’s Collinsville Journey” earlier than the yr’s finish.
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