New book covers Rehoboth from A to Z

"A Rehoboth ABC," a new children’s picture book published by Cat & Mouse Press in Lewes, is a full-color 8 1/2-inch-by-8 1/2-inch paperback book with rhymed text by award-winning writer Nancy Sakaduski, accompanied by original illustrations by Emory Au. The book highlights the most popular activities children enjoy during the summer in Rehoboth Beach.

Bookstores carrying the book include Browseabout Books and Proud Bookstore in Rehoboth Beach, Bethany Beach Books in Bethany Beach, Ninth Street Book Shop in Wilmington and Giovanni’s Room in Philadelphia.

The book will also be available at Kids’ Ketch in Lewes and Sole Kids in Rehoboth. Other stores throughout the region will be added in the future.

Current information about where to obtain the book is available at www.catandmousepress.com. The author will also be doing some book signings and readings, and will occasionally have the book available at area farmers markets, events and community gatherings.

Cat & Mouse Press was established to publish books by local authors and illustrators. The company plans to release a humorous picture book for adult audiences later in the year and will publish the book containing the winning entries from the Rehoboth Beach Reads Short Story Competition (www.rehobothbeachreads.com).

Determining what to include in "A Rehoboth ABC" was part of the fun, according to Sakaduski. “There were certain things that had to be in there,” she says. “The Boardwalk, dolphins, taffy, sandcastles and hermit crabs all made the list. But beyond that, I wanted to make sure the book was inclusive so that many kinds of children and families would see themselves ‘in the picture.’”

She specifically asked the illustrator to depict children of different races, ages and abilities, and made sure to include children of single and same-sex parents, to reflect the diverse kinds of families in Rehoboth. Sakaduski has authored 17 published books, most of them for young audiences and lives with her husband in Lewes. She is a member of the Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild.

Au, who illustrated the book, is known primarily for his fine art paintings. He jumped at the opportunity to work on the illustrations for "A Rehoboth ABC." “Illustrating this book was a unique challenge, but one that I was more than ready to take on,” he says, having been formally trained as an illustrator.

Although he has had illustration assignments in the past, this was Au’s first opportunity to create scenes of French fry-stealing sea gulls, mole-whacking machines and arcade rides. “I traded my usual painterly approach for a more whimsical drawing style that allowed me to quickly capture the fun of Rehoboth Beach from a kid’s point of view.”

Au works as a graphic designer for ab+c, one of the top advertising agencies in Delaware, and it was this experience that enabled him to create the design for the book and its attractive color palette and reader-friendly typestyle. His colorful illustrations are child-pleasing and humorous, and are perfectly suited to capture the experiences of summertime in Rehoboth Beach.

For more information on where to purchase "A Rehoboth ABC" or to arrange for an author visit, go to www.catandmousepress.com. The book is priced at $12.95, and is perfect for children from toddler through school age. Although it is geared to Rehoboth, the scenes depicted will be recognizable to any child who has enjoyed a summer visit to the beach.

Look for the next title from Cat & Mouse Press - this one for adults - in the coming months. For updates, go to www.facebook.com/catandmousepress.