Only on Hilton Head: Author Lucy Jackson balances writing with fifth grade

We bid our farewells to the herd, and to Ghandi. I was really going to miss him... . We looked back one more time at the herd, slowly fading away into the morning fog. I felt a lump in my throat, but I swallowed it up.

Sounds like a line from Richard Adams' famous children's novel "Watership Down?"

Try a passage from Lucy Jackson's "The Laws of the Cherry Trees."

Who?

Lucy Jackson, who can't take your call right now because she is probably in school at Bluffton Elementary School where she spends her days in fifth grade. Lucy turned 11 on December 24 and is busy contemplating the storyline of her next book while going to classes and doing her homework.

Lucy's first book is told from the point of view of a feral cat named Wolfen, whose best friend is a disabled harlequin raven named Yeri. The book begins with much excitement as Wolfen introduces us to the characters that make up her family and the surrounding environment in which they live. It's an environment they must leave in a hurry due to an impending forest fire.

Lucy understands the basics of storytelling intuitively, and engages her readers immediately with as much expertise in her narrative as someone much older, even if the older person spent inordinate amounts of time and money studying the same literary concepts in the halls of higher learning and in excessive self-absorbed group-critiques known as workshops. We won't name names here.

Lucy's first self-published book is enjoyable and informational for both children and adults, not an easy feat in the crowded field of letters. I was thoroughly absorbed from first to last page. You will be, too. And your kids. It has the appeal of Sheila Burnford's "Incredible Journey," and leaves the reader wanting more.

Wanting more is a good thing, given Lucy's age because she has years ahead of her to write more great stories.

That's not the only thing she has working for her.

She has a positive, curious outlook on life, something she must have inherited from her mom, Molly Morgan, a long-time island resident and friend.

"I love writing, and how words can create a whole, imaginary world that others can enjoy," said Lucy, who claims she doesn't have a lot of friends and prefers spending her spare time with a few close, trusted ones, and studying for school.

She may be wrong about the number of friends she has though.

Her recent book-signing event drew a crowd. There were easily thirty or so people strolling and mingling, buying her book, asking for her signature, and listening to her read a passage from the book.

All of which bodes well for her future as an author.

To buy "The Laws of the Cherry Trees," go to lulu/shop.com, barnesandnoble.com, or amazon.com or visit Coastal Provisions, the gift store at Poseidon Restaurant, in Shelter Cove Towne Center or the Skull Creek Boathouse gift shop at 397 Squire Pope Road.

Carmen Hawkins De Cecco lives on Hilton Head Island. She blogs at hiltonheadblogangel.me.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 6:23 PM with the headline "Only on Hilton Head: Author Lucy Jackson balances writing with fifth grade."