What do you get when you add a mother, her daughter, a good story and pictures into a pot?
You get a children’s book that was number three on the Northwest Lower Michigan’s best-seller list for hardcover fiction after being on bookstore shelves for only three weeks.
Petoskey Stone Soup, written by former Lake Orion residents Martha (Fulford) Mothershead and illustrated by her mother, Janet Clarkson, was published in July after three years of hard work and dedication.
Mothershead, who was a reporter for The Leader and currently works as a general practice lawyer in the northern Michigan town of Leland, got the idea to write Soup while reading Marsha Brown’s Stone Soup with her then four-year-old daughter Annie.
‘I’m reading her the book and I literally have a Petoskey stone in my hand, and at the end of the book she said ‘Can we make stone soup sometime, mom??? Mothershead said. ‘I looked at my hand and I said ‘Let’s make it out of Petoskey stones.??
The proverbial light bulb went off and Mothershead began to write.
Published by her own publishing company, Whaleback Press, the story follows two young children named Ben and Annie, who were modeled after Mothershead’s children, who discover a vacant village while exploring the Sleeping Bear Dunes. The children are then amazed at what happens when they decide to create a magical soup out of Petoskey stones.
The last two pages of the book outlines the history of the state stone and the historic town of Glen Haven.
Mothershead wanted her then 70-year-old mother to illustrate the drawings for the book because of her tremendous artistry.
Clarkson created many colored pencil drawings, but only 30 were chosen for the book. She jokes that she fit her illustrating in between playing golf and bridge.
‘There were times she cracked the whip over me,? Clarkson joked. ‘I just took my time and did it when I felt like doing it.?
Mothershead said working with her mother on the book was ‘stressful? at times.
‘It was hard to figure out how to tell your mom you don’t like her work. There were times when she didn’t like what she was assigned to illustrate,? she said. ‘We learned how to give eachother feedback without getting crushed about it.?
Clarkson sketched the illustrations based on what her grandchildren looked like, but Ben, who is now 12, was ’embarrassed? to be in the book at first, then warmed up to the idea.
Mothershead joked that if the kids were bad, she would threaten to take them out of the book.
Since the book’s release last month, the mother-daughter team have been traveling around northern Michigan for book signings at book stores.
Clarkson and Mothershead said they’ve been ‘having a great time together? and that their collaboration on Petoskey Stone Soup gives them a sort of family souvenir. Although she isn’t ready to give up her job as a lawyer to become a full-time writer, Mothershead encourages anyone with a hidden talent such as writing to pursue it.
‘You just wouldn’t believe the feeling of self-confidence you get when you put something together and somebody pulls out their wallet and buys it,? she said. ‘You feel like, ‘Wow, I really accomplished something.??
The two women are currently working on another children’s book, which Mothershead revealed is about grandmothers, due sometime next spring, but right now they’re focusing on the ‘celebrity? they’ve gained from Soup. ‘Everybody has 15 minutes of fame, right?? Clarkson said. ‘We’re having ours.?
Petoskey Stone Soup can be purchased at most northern Michigan bookstores.
Visit www.petoskeystonesoup.com for more information on the book.