Member’s daughter publishes book
By DEBORAH A. MILES
At 14 years old, Sarah Evans has launched a writing career with the publication of her first book, “The Sour Little Lemon Tree.”
It took this daughter of a PEF member, John Evans, less than an hour to write the 24-page story.
Evans, who works as an information technology specialist 3 at the state Department of Law, said his wife, Mary, read 17 books a day to Sarah when she was an infant. He also credits J.K. Rowling, the author of the seven Harry Potter fantasy books, as a literary influence for his daughter. Sarah read each of them several times.
“I believe that’s how Sarah nurtured her imagination and developed a love for language,” Evans said.
The love of language is certainly present in Sarah’s life.
Her book aptly describes how a tiny tree in an ancient orchard recognizes how different it is from all the rest. It waits forever for its lemons to grow.
“The moral of the story is that everyone is unique and capable of doing great things,” Sarah said.
The young author also said the story just popped into her mind. It took almost a year for it to be published, and she was thrilled when it hit the bookshelves in August. She has more books in the works, including one with her own watercolor illustrations.
Sarah, whose pen name is S. Annetje Evans, has donated most of her book proceeds through signings to various charities such as food programs, libraries and the Save The Children organization.
She has a positive philosophy about life.
“If you want to do something or have a dream, you can achieve it,” she said.
“The Sour Little Lemon Tree” is published by Tate Publishing and Enterprise, and is available at Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon.com, the NYS Museum and local bookstores. The book retails at $8.99 and includes a code redeemable for a free audio version from www.tatepublishing.com.