Local author Nancy K. Wallace’s second set of children’s theater books was published in September by ABDO Publishing Inc. and some of the themes and characters may seem familiar.
Reader’s Theater: How to Put on a Production Set 2 includes six titles that cover a year of holidays: Groundhogs and Guinea Pigs, Fettuccine and Four Leaf Clovers, Pickles and Parks, Medals and Memorials, Ghosts and Gummy Worms, and Turkey and Takeout.
Medals and Memorials, a Memorial Day play was inspired by local medal of honor recipient Sgt. Leslie Sabo. The dedication reads: In Memory of Sgt. Leslie Sabo, a friend and hometown hero. The teacher in this play is Mrs. Custer – named for Donna Custer, a teacher at Parents’ Preschool.
Pickles and Parks is about a class that organizes an Earth Day Celebration. Wallace based the idea of this on Ellwood City’s annual Earth Day celebration in Ewing Park- The dedication reads: To Lorraine Ranchod, who made Ellwood City’s Earth Day Celebration awesome!
Ghosts and Gummy Worms is a Halloween play that was performed for the Ellwood City Public Library’s Spooktacular Halloween in 2012. It was originally called The Mansion on Main Street. It is dedicated to all of the theater kids at the Ellwood City Library.
Each title provides information for putting on a production. It also includes a full script that can be adapted to be readers’ theater, a skit, or a full-on play. Downloadable Teachers’ Guides provide additional tips on play-specif ic costumes and props and reading level information for each character.
Local Author’s Book Selected for Contest
“The Haunted Sleepover.” a children’s book by local author Nancy Wallace, was selected as one of 15 books in the “We Need To Read” competition at Lincoln School, based in Ottawa Illinois.
According to program coordinator, Karen Roth “We Need to Read” is an academic competition created to “expose the best books and authors to the students’ at Lincoln, and to fuel the love of reading.”
The contest runs Oct 1- April 1.
About Nancy Wallace
Wallace has been the youth services coordinator at Ellwood City Public Library for 25 years, overseeing programming for infants through young adults. She reviews young adult literature for VOYA magazine and moderates three YA Book Discussion Groups. She is the author of nineteen children’s books.
She has most recently signed a three book deal with HarperCollins Publishing. The first book, “Among Wolves,” is a fantasy (for adult readers) based on 18th-century French history is currently available as an E-book and will be available in paperback soon.