Mother/Daughter team offering new book for Christmas

By Rusty Nixon
Director of Development and Alumni Affairs

LENOIR, NC - In this technological age it still pays to curl up with a good book.

Doing just that has brought a unique Christmas gift to Deb Venti (PHS class of 1985) and her daughter BreeAnn Fisher. They are able to share that gift with the world, thanks to the publishing of their children's book The Night After Christmas.

"I own a bookstore and when she (BreeAnn) was a little girl she used to come in and gather books around her on the floor and sit there and read," said Deb. "When it came time to close the store and go home she would tell me, 'You can't make me leave, I haven't read all my books yet.'"

Now the 18 year old high school student will have her own title to add to that reading list. The youngest author ever signed by her publishing company - Tate Publishing - BreeAnn will have a star on her resume as she enters college and the professional world - that of published author.

The book is a playful satire of the popular classic poem The Night Before Christmas. Brought up to date by the authors The Night After Christmas examines some poignant themes of our culture in a way that kids can relate to. It leads the reader to traditional family values that have stood the test of time, in the same way as the traditional Christmas poem it is derived from.

The project was the combination of BreeAnn's family tradition of giving a book for Christmas and a school project.

"She came home with a project to write a satire of a Christmas story and of course she didn't want to share with me because - you know how it is - when Mom helps it has a tendency to turn into a big production," said Deb with a laugh. "She finally gave in and we sat and read all our Christmas books and I had her choose her favorite one. I read it to her three times and said 'what's different about this story today?' She said she thought kids were too spoiled and it took off from there.

"We probably wrote the whole thing in 45 minutes to an hour."

And that's where it would have stayed but by chance.

"I was working with (Tate Publishing) on a particular book shipment that was sent to the wrong place and had billing problems, etc. and in the course of the phone calls I became friends with the woman I was calling all the time who happened to be the secretary of the President of the company," said Deb. "We were talking about the story one day and she had me email her a copy and she showed it to her boss. They emailed us back a contract a couple days later."

The company provided the pair of authors an illustrator and the rest - as they say - is history.

"We never planned on writing a book," said Deb. "It's really not in the plans to write another but who knows? If nothing else 20 years from now we can sit around with BreeAnn's children at Christmas and read the book she wrote."

The book is due for release around Thanksgiving and the family bookstore in North Carolina - Venti's Casa - will be holding a book signing on Dec. 9. Anyone wishing a signed copy can contact ventiscasa@gmail.com. The Bookworm in Plymouth will also be offering copies of the book in time to purchase for Christmas.