By Conrad Dudderar
Senior Staff Writer
Anyone who has read to a dog will love a new book penned by a Yukon author and educator.
Una Belle Townsend of Yukon is promoting her ninth book, “Scanner and the Icky Sticky Gum.”
The picture book is the second in a series written by Townsend about a little dog who listens to children reading in the library.
“This is a fun book for kids, teachers and librarians, and for anyone who has ever read to a dog,” said Townsend, a retired Riverside School librarian and teacher.
The prolific children’s author is available for school and library visits.
Her latest book is illustrated by David Barrow of Bethany, who joins the author for visits to students at local schools and libraries.
Townsend’s other books are “Scanner”, “Toby and the Secret Code,” “Race car Driver’s Night Before Christmas,” “Oklahoma Land Run,” “The Great Elephant Escape,” “Sunset and Haiku,” “Clancy,” and “Grady’s In the Silo.”
Townsend’s books make great Christmas gifts, especially for teachers and librarians.
“My books teach tolerance, patience and teamwork,” the Yukon author said. “Those are skills that kids need to learn anyway.
“The educator in me keeps coming out in my books,” she added. “A lot of children’s books out there may be ‘cutesy’, but they don’t say anything and never have a point.”
Townsend writes a lot about Oklahoma in her picture books.
The award-winning author has plans to publish a 10th book in coming months and is working on three more titles.
Townsend works with three publishing companies, Pelican Press in New Orleans, La., Doodle and Peck Publishing in Yukon and SFA Press in Nacogdoches, Texas.
For more information, contact her at unabelle1@gmail.com or unabelletownsend.blogspot.com
Townsend’s books may be found at Main Street Marketplace in Yukon, on Amazon and from her publishers.
About the ‘Scanner’ Books
In the first book of the series, “Scanner,” the little dog has been zapped by the library scanner and can now read. Nobody knows it, even Miss Copywright the librarian, who finds Scanner the dog at the school and takes him home with her overnight.
Miss Copywright brings Scanner back to school the next day but realizes he doesn’t have an owner, so she decides to keep him.
But Scanner can’t stay alone at Miss Copywright’s home and needs a job during the day. So the librarian talks to the school’s principal about having students read to this new library dog.
In “Scanner and the Icky Sticky Gum,” the little pooch smells something wonderful in a trashcan. As he tries to find it, Scanner falls in the trashcan and gets trapped.
When Miss Copywright lifts Scanner out of the trashcan, he becomes an “icky sticky mess” and is covered in gum. The librarian places Scanner in a box and looks for a book on gum removal in the 648 section of the library’s card catalog.
A second grader suggests using peanut butter to get the gum out of his hair. After bringing Scanner home, Miss Copywright rubs peanut butter all over his fur and he licks it off his face.
The book ends with Scanner declaring, “The next time I smell something yummy in a trash can, I’ll tip it over first. Who knows? There might be a burnt cookie, or a moldy meatball inside. Yum!”
