Mrs. Durham, a 6th grade ELA teacher, recently published her first book  “Trade Places With Me.”

The book is based on the stories that her mother told her when she was a child. Mrs. Durham  said she wrote this book because she found  her mother’s childhood stories to be very interesting.  She named it Trade places with Me because she wished she had been able to experience some of the things her mother had experienced as a child. 

Mrs. Durham was excited to read her new book to her students in the media center. CN2 News was even on hand for the event.  

Mrs. Durham said she hopes that this book will inspire her students to write or illustrate their own book. The whole process of writing, illustrating, and publishing the book took about three years, she said. 

Mrs. Durham said she was “overwhelmed with emotion” when she saw her mom’s reaction. “I started to cry and so did she,” said Mrs. Durham.  Mrs. Durham’s mother, Margaret Sawyer, who was present for the reading, said the book  makes her emotional as well. “It feels wonderful,” Mrs.  Sawyer said. 

Mrs. Durham said her granddaughter is the book’s illustrator.  Her granddaughter was just 9 years old when she drew the illustrations for the book.  “The books illustrations are beautiful,” said Matthew Ditterhoefer one of Mrs. Durham’s students. 

Mrs. Durham, who has been self-promoting her book, said she is excited that everything she and her granddaughter did paid off, and that the work is now out in the world for everyone to read and buy. 

“The book, the wording, and the illustrations look great,” said Angy Chitty, one of Mrs. Durham’s language arts students.  

Hayden Jordan, another student said,” It’s cool having a teacher who has written a book.”   Hayden said it has inspired her to maybe write a book of her own one day.  Jackson Melzer, another student, said he also likes the book. Jackson Mrs. Durham has inspired him to write his own book one day, and thinks that a teacher writing a book is a cool idea.  Mrs. Durham said she sees herself writing more books in the future.

Mrs. Durham places her book on a shelf in the media center. –     

  Iyanna Tisdale contributed to this article.