Reesy: A Little Girl Learning Life’s Lessons
By Annie Comor-Jacobs
Cost of Series: $20
Individual costs:
Book I–$10.00
Book II–$10.00
Books III&IV–$15.00
ISBN#: 1-889743-18-6
About the Book
Book I Reesy Learning About Divorce
Book II Reesy Learning About the Deep South
Book III Reesy Learning About Deafness
Book IV Reesy Learning About Death
A Little History About Reesy
In 2000, Reesy made her debut in Book II. Ms. Comor-Jacobs needed a little more time to write about Reesy’s special challengeócoping with the reality of divorce.
First, Book II was self-published by Ms. Comor-Jacobs. After time, it became quite apparent to Ms. Comor-Jacobs that Reesy needed more exposure and support than she or her illustrator could give. Thus, she sought a publisher. In February of 2001, Ms. Annie Comor-Jacobs and the owner of Robbie Dean Press, Dr. Fairy C. Hayes-Scott, met at the L.A.N.D. (Liberal Arts Network for Development) Conference. Ms. Comor-Jacobs shared her work with Dr. Hayes-Scott. And so, in August 2001, Book I made its debut as a Robbie Dean Press publication, and Books III and IV will make their debut in November 2001.
Reesy is a book for all children. And so, the author and publisher have decided not to continue to give her a “color.” Reesy’s experiences and the lessons she learns transcend class, race, or economical background. Thus, Books I, III, and IV are in black and white so that children can make Reesy any color they wish (or for that matterónone at all). She can reflect the class and economics of all her readers. And younger children should feel free to color in the book, if they so wish.
Educators, parents, grandparents, and other relatives can use the stories in this series to help explain the “tough” questions. How does one deal with the break up of one’s family? How does one cope with the violent death of a loved one? How does one learn not to prejudge anyone on the basis of his or her physical challenge? How does a child learn to be open to new environments? For children, six through nine, these are real issues that they are facing, either personally or by what they see or hear has happened to others. The stories and cover should be catalysts for discussion and excellent avenues for teaching life’s lessons to the children who read this work.
The next day when she went to school, she was not interested in what her teacher was saying. She looked around her classroom with the pictures of different families. All the pictures showed families with a mother, father, and children. Reesy picked up her reading book and turned the pages. The story was about a happy family on a vacation. The family had a mother, a father, and three children.
Reesy approached her teacher and said, “Mrs. Williams, I need to go to the library to look for a new book.” Mrs. Williams said, “OK, Reesy, but come to the classroom before we go to lunch.”
Reesy went to the library and looked at the books. She was hoping to find a book on “Divorce.” When she did not find a book on divorce, she decided to look up the word in the dictionary. Reesy found the dictionary and looked until she found the word, “divorce.” She read the following definition out loud to herself: “a total separation.”
About the Author
Ms. Annie Comor-Jacobs became the head of Wayne County Community College District Eastern Campus in October 1993. As Campus Provost, Comor-Jacobs plans and directs academic programming, community services, and public relations for the campus of about 1,800 students. This campus is located on the east side of Detroit. With more than thirty years experience in education, Comor-Jacobs has worked on the elementary, high school, and college levels. Comor-Jacobs earned a B.A. in English/Social Studies from Grand Valley State University and an M.A. degree in Reading from the University of Cincinnati. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University. Ms. Comor-Jacobs and her husband, Willie, reside in Detroit. Ms. Comor-Jacobs has one grown daughter, Therese.
