Book Signing- I Live in Stockbridge

The Inn at Stockbridge is pleased to have Susan Geller author of the childrens book "I Live in Stockbridge" at the Inn at Stockbridge for a book signing on Saturday July 28 at 9:30 AM.  Susan wrote this book with Susan Merrill 36 years ago and recently had it republished .
please plan to be at the inn for this exciting event.

I LIVE IN STOCKBRIDGE, a children's history of the town, has been republished by its author Susan Geller, and illustrator Susan Merrill. First published in 1976, it has been updated for 2012 and reprinted by Excelsior Press in North Adams.

A children’s history of the town, readers will gain an interesting perspective on this quaint village in Southern Berkshire as seen by a young girl. Geller and Merrill collaborated on the 48-page account of the town they remember from their own childhoods.

The book’s narrator takes the reader on a walking tour of Stockbridge, pausing at places like the Indian Burial Ground, the Mission House, Laurel Hill, the Children’s Chime Tower, and the Berkshire Playhouse, to discuss the history, while passing the time of day on the porch of The Red Lion Inn, with an elderly friend, Mrs. Ashburner.

  

The little girl also talks about some of Stockbridge’s famous citizens, like John Sergeant, Jonathan Edwards, the versatile Field family, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Daniel Chester French, Mabel Choate, and illustrator Norman Rockwell. “My idea was to present the history of Stockbridge, through a child’s experience”, stated Geller.

Illustrator Merrill had similar objectives, too. “I wanted the drawings to be as simple and crystalline as Susan’s writing, she said, “They are a personal view of the town I love.”

Geller is a writer, and freelance photographer. She currently photographs events for The Berkshire Eagle’s on-line edition segment, called Out and About, and for the Thursday edition, Berkshires Week. Geller has participated in various photography shows, and her first solo exhibit will be part of the October Artswalk at Gallery 25, at 25 Union Street in Pittsfield. The opening is October 5 from 5pm to 7pm.

Merrill is the author and illustrator of the children's book WASHDAY and the novel WARM MORNING. She has become known for her solo exhibitions of farm animal paintings, which she has shown for five years at the Hancock Shaker Village, in conjunction with its Baby Animals event every April.

The book ends with the voice of the young narrator as she walks down the steps of The Red Lion Inn. “ I love talking to Mrs. Ashburner, but, as the air cools and the sun fades, I know it is time for me to be going home. Mrs. Ashburner and I agree that the world has changed since she was six years old, but Main Street in Stockbridge is still very much the same.”

Much in the past thirty-six years has changed for both Geller and Merrill, too, but “I Live in Stockbridge” is a sweet reminder of the blend of the past and present.  You can contact Susan at : ILiveInStockbridge@gmail.com