PUYALLUP, Wash. — "This is Ezra and Eliza's historic home,” reads Nancy Glen. “Stop in for a tour with tea and scones.”
The Meeker Mansion is just one of the answers to clues a classroom full of animal kids follow in Puyallup Adventures. It's the follow-up to Nancy and Julia Glen's Tacoma Adventures, a local bestseller last Christmas.
“We were just about to launch the book in mid-March and, as you know, the world shut down,” says Nancy Glen.
With no mainstream way to market the new book, the sisters decided to make it a free download for the month of May, with donations going to the Puyallup Food Bank. Nancy, a teacher at Emerald Ridge High School, says there's more hunger in her hometown than anyone would guess.
“It's surprising really how dire the situation became so quickly with families,” she says. “I mean not everyone gets a stimulus check or unemployment.”
Julia's paintings and Nancy's prose bring Puyallup to life. The kids visit the local library, Watson's Nursery, Skate Tiffany's and Daffodil Bowl.
“You roll the balls fast down the lane,” begins the clue. “You hit the pins and go insane.”
When the kids visit the Washington State Fairgrounds, they learn its role as a World War Two internment camp.
“Their rights were taken away, Japanese Americans,” says Nancy Glen. “We need to remember and honor that.”
Puyallup Adventures is finding its way into the hands of kids all over the school district as hundreds of dollars in donations help struggling families. The Glen sisters say that makes their latest book their biggest success story yet!
“It's like being on the New York bestseller list really”, says Nancy Glen. “We're not making any money but it's really a beautiful thing.”
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