Country roads take her home Nora Sommers’ life experiences as a child lead to pair of books

  • By Dave Mast
  • April 18, 2010
  • 544
                        
As a child growing up with nine other siblings, life certainly had plenty of opportunities to dole out all kinds of interesting and memorable circumstances for Nora Sommers. As is the case in many families, it wasn’t the monumental once-in-a-lifetime events which captivated Sommers, but rather the mundane, everyday proceedings which have remained firmly entrenched in her heart over the years. Those everyday experiences growing up have led to a pair of books based on family and faith, and true to form, because family was so important to Sommers, the stars of the book are all of her family members and the numerous animals on the farm, which helped create both touching and fascinating snapshots of life growing up on the farm. Country Proverbs from the Farm and Country Rhymes from the Farm are beautifully illustrated ink drawings by Christy Otto, portraying life growing up in a family of 12. The youngest of 10 siblings, Sommers fondly looks back at life on the farm, including the swimming hole, sitting around the old pipe stove singing with neighbors, jumping in the giant hay stack, sledding, and caring for their pets and farm animals. She does so by penning meaningful new words to classical old rhymes in Country Rhymes, and with meaningful proverbs which go hand-in-hand with her real-life experiences as a youngster. “My sister, Mary, kept prodding me to share about all of these stories that we talk about when we were growing up on the farm,” said Sommers, the baby of the family. “Every time we got together for a family reunion, we would end up digging up all of these great memories from our past. Mary told me write these things down so we could remember them.” These familiar family memories became part of the prose which Sommers created for her two books, with family members becoming the focal point of life’s lessons through Biblical proverbs and through common, well-known nursery rhymes, which were re-written to describe stories and events from the old homestead. Sommers felt that she was extremely blessed to have run into Otto’s brother, who opened the door to having Otto illustrate the old-time drawings in the book. “Christy’s brother said that he (Christy) would be perfect for this kind of a book, and from the moment I saw one of his calendars, I knew his style was exactly what I wanted for the book,” said Sommers. By the time Otto was done, she said that he felt like he had become part of the family. “He captured the very essence of each of my family members, the events that took place and the proverbs.” The two books have taken the little manifestations of Sommers’ life which are meaningful, and put them into very relatable form for anyone reading them. She said that initially she had looked at creating a children’s book, but felt that the market was too saturated for what she wanted to achieve. Instead, she chose to create a pair of books that, while they certainly would appeal to a child because of Otto’s impressive artistic ability, are actually designed for adults, who will connect with the beauty and sincerity of the words of wisdom, as well as connecting through the memories they will hopefully drum up of their own childhood. “Nursery rhymes were a very big part of my growing up, which is probably why I returned to them for Country Rhymes,” said Sommers. “The books are not glitzy and bright, and full of colors, but rather they are a more poignant look back at our memories and the things that were important for adults when they were growing up. This is something in which I hope parents and grandparents will be able to connect with their children and grandchildren about the values we experienced growing up.” Country Proverbs does that by touching on character issues like work ethic, sensibility and wise choices, and Sommers said that Otto’s creativity in connecting drawing to proverb are spot on. A retired registered nurse, she said that much like the memories imbedded in her heart and mind, many of the rhymes she used are also a large part of her past. What made the two-year process even more fun was that once the creative juices began flowing, it caused her to reflect at how blessed she was growing up. Her hope is that others will be blessed much in the same manner when reminiscing through the books. “So many of the things that we take for granted are things that are the most valuable to us,” said Sommers’ husband Levi. “I think these books will help people remember much of the joyful part of growing up in another era, and how blessed we were, and hopefully the messages of hope, faith, and joy, along with the meaning of the proverbs, can be relayed to children.” Country Rhymes and Country Proverbs are currently available at Rebecca’s Bistro in Walnut Creek, The Gospel Book Store, Troyer’s Country Market, Country From the Heart and Berlin Village Inn. To be a distributor for the books, call Sommers at 330-763-1761.


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