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Hollis writer, Hinkley, pens children’s book, ‘Bears in Windows’

By George Pelletier - Milford Bureau Chief | Aug 8, 2020

HOLLIS – The idea of putting stuffed bears in windows began as COVID-19 unfolded. The “Teddy Hunts” was a game that was being played around the world and across our country during the pandemic.

Author Cheryl Hinkley, a recent breast cancer survivor, stumbled upon the concept during a hike with her husband.

“I noticed one teddy bear on a mailbox,” she said. “And I thought, ‘I guess someone dropped their bear.’ And then a few houses down I saw another one, and then another and another. And I said, ‘What is with all the Teddy Bears?'”

Hinkley googled it, and learned of the global phenomenon, happening around the end of March as COVID-19 seeped into people’s lives and our culture.

“I had only been home from work for a couple of weeks then,” she recalled. “It took off really quickly. And that was the beginning of it.”

Hinkley thought the idea of putting bears in windows and such was a novel idea in more ways than one.

“My husband works for the elementary school,” she said. “It kind of became a thing.”

The notion of writing a book came to Hinkley a few weeks later.

“I saw more and more people putting them out,” she shared. “I had two or three or four in my own house. And I thought, ‘These kids have been home for a few weeks,’ not knowing how long the quarantine was going to last.

I didn’t know if it made sense for me to make a book out of this because, by the time I would get this finished, everything would be over.”

Hinkley sat down and outlined the book and over the next few days, she tweaked it some. Hinkley then spoke to her son’s girlfriend, who is a graphic designer.

“I asked her what she thought of the idea,” Hinkley said. “‘What do you think of illustrating this?’ I asked her and she said, ‘Let’s try it. What the heck.'”

The author figured they had nothing to lose, except a few dollars to publish the book themselves. The result is the book, “Bears in Windows.”

“It went from there,” Hinkley said. “I thought I would see what happens. And at this point, it had been six or eight weeks and now they were talking about closing schools and remote learning. And now my husband was telling me things from the elementary school side.”

Hinkley figured she would have time, until the books arrived in the mail and wondered how she would get the books sold.

“My daughter owns her own online company, so she was helping me set up a website and do Instagram and Facebook,” Hinkley said. “The website was really the best thing, getting that up and running and making it feel like me. And now I just started promoting through those ways.”

She took it upon herself to just start contacting folks, including The Telegraph and The Cabinet.

“It’s a children’s book,” she said. “It’s an encouragement. It’s local.”

Hinkley is pleased with the end result and that she has another book under her belt, one that was penned prior to her new book.

“Not having ever done this before, I was happy,” she said. “I actually had written another book, which is actually my first book. But it’s with a water colorist, so it’s a totally different style and feel. The pages are a lot fuller.”

The other book is about a hummingbird, which may take a little more time.

“It’s a hyper-hummingbird who has had too much sugar,” Hinkley said.

Hinkley has written a fair amount of poetry, which she draws from her faith. She doesn’t know if she’ll publish her poetry.

“I have toyed with my cancer story actually,” she said. “Having gone through breast cancer last year, there is some story in that, so I thought at some point, that maybe I would write something about that.”

Healthwise, Hinkley said she is feeling “awesome,” and has “finally got some hair back.”

“It was April of 2019 that I was diagnosed,” she explained. “I had the surgery in May and then had chemo through the end of the year and then radiation at the beginning of this year.”

Although she doesn’t have grandkids, Hinkley got the idea of putting a few books in the “Little Free Libraries” that are scattered throughout the area.

“I’ve started putting them in,” she said. “As I’ve seen a few of them, I’ve put a few in there. And I’ve given a copy to the local library. And when school starts, I’d like to get into a kindergarten or first grade class and read to them and go from there.”

For more information, visit bearsinwindows.com.

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