When she was 2 years old, Susan Luck boarded a jet in Spain, where she was born, with her father, a widower, had been stationed at an Air Force base. The plane rose up through the clouds and flew over the Atlantic Ocean to the east coast of the United States, where Susan spent several weeks with her maternal grandmother in Connecticut. Then Susan boarded another aircraft and flew to Long Beach, California, where she was raised on the Pacific Ocean by her paternal grandmother until she was 4 years old, and her father remarried.
Susan has also lived in Arizona, but is now a resident of Windsor, where she is curator of the Windsor Historical Museum. Susan uses her artistic skills to create exhibits that tell stories about the town’s past. She has also become a published author of a children’s story, “The Lunch Bunch Gang.”
Writing a book has long been on her to-do list, Susan said. She was working as a teacher’s aide in Arizona when she started making up stories for first grade students to keep them entertained during lunch hour. The result is “The Lunch Bunch Gang,”a series of adventures that connect to each other, keeping the readers eager for more.
Susan also illustrated the book, which incorporates children flying off to new places, like she did when she was young. The children in the book start out in a stagecoach in the desert, then encounter exotic wildlife in the air and in the sea.
Susan has already sold more than 75 copies of “The Lunch Bunch Gang.” She will be signing copies of the book on Oct. 5 at The Pour Poet, a coffeehouse in Windsor from 10 a.m. to noon. One of her daughters plans to come for the book-signing and read from the book, Susan said. Everyone who buys a copy will be entered in a raffle for a prize, Susan said.
Susan has always been involved in creative endeavors. As a teenager, she worked at Knott’s Berry Farm, portraying a school marm or saloon girl. She also volunteered to be Gracie the Clown for a church event, she said, and soon became in demand at parties. She also took a stunt class for rodeo clowns.
Teaching preschool and Sunday School for 30 years also prepared her to write a children’s book. In addition to encouraging good eating habits, the book incorporates appreciation for all the good things God has provided and weaves a few Bible stories into the narrative. The 56-page book, which has 7 chapters, is suitable for early readers or to be read to preschoolers by an adult. It follows a group of students who go on a magical trip during lunchtime at school to the Jelly Desert, where you can tap the cacti for jelly and make peanut butter sandwiches that taste like your favorite filling. The Lunch Bunch also visit a farm where the cows give strawberry and chocolate flavored milk, meet a talking Big Blue Whale, take naps in nests on Talking Bird Island, before making a last stop at the Village of Desserts.
Susan had always wanted to write a book, she said, and after she heard Brenda Black of The Word’s Out speak at a Christian Women’s Club lunch in Clinton, contacted her about helping her get it published.
At the back of the book, Susan encourages young readers to use their imaginations and create their own tall tales by assembling the components of a story — characters, setting, dialogue and action. Susan also offers story ‘starters,’ such as imagining what Stagecoach Sally, one of the characters, pulls out of her big pockets. Sally is perhaps reminiscent of a stewardess on one of Susan’s plane trips, pulling items to entertain a small child out of her pockets. Susan also explains the cowboy terminology that Big Dusty uses.
The soft-cover book is $14.95. For more information about Susan’s book, or about publishing your own story, go to www.thewordsout-brendablack.com.
And as Susan advises readers in the foreword, “Hold on tight, and let’s go for a ride!”
The Pour Poet is located at 112 S. Main, on the north side of the main street of Windsor, Mo., in the block before the four-way stop. It is open Monday through Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, 7 a.m. to noon. In addition to serving lattes, mochas, signature coffee drinks, Italian sodas or tea, the Pour Poet is a great place to browse for antiques and used books.
