Retired Somers Teachers Hope to Spark Youth Activism with their Environmental Trilogy

Gail Simpson spent 40 plus years on the staff of the Somers School System. Gym Teacher, Principal and Athletic Director filled out a resume that began in 1969 and had her live a great deal of change over the years. However, one stood out in stark contrast from her beginnings. “The whole video gaming world and screen time usage has taken the place of random playing outside,” she said. So in 2015, with the sedentary nature of kids in mind, Simpson wanted the to be elevated and began writing a book with her long time colleague Jan Antonucci. But as one book eventually became three, the primary premise of The Nadia Stone Trilogy remained the same and addresses a far more global problem.

Climate change may one day have us much less concerned with where children play but whether they survive.

The environmentally based journey isn’t meant to leave children wallowing, though. “The purpose of the books is to make kids realize that there are things they can do,” said Simpson.

Savannah’s Leap of Faith begins in Yonkers with a lonely video gamer in 2013. Savannah is mostly oblivious to the outside world until her grandmother comes to live with her. Grandma Ada or Grada gets her the young girl outdoors and interested in the natural world around the Hudson River.

Untermyer Park is among the itinerary for the characters, and also was a spark that helped light Simpson’s literary fire. “I have a close friend who spent a lot of time at Untermyer as a kid, and we began visiting in 2012. I was enthralled with the history and the paths overgrown with invasive species. But you could sense all the potential,” said Simpson.

So there’s plenty of cover to obscure the next character from public view. Nadia is an elderly homeless woman that was exiled botanist from the Boyce Thompson Institute in the 1970s and Savannah’s discovery sets the stage for book two. “She gives Savannah a secret time traveling stone,” said Simpson.

Even so, a good idea must afford writers time, and in March 2020, the whole world was suddenly immersed in the commodity. “It was kind of a pandemic project. You couldn’t go anywhere or do anything, you might as well write. So that’s what we did,” said Jan Antonucci, who was a Somers Intermediate School teacher from 1974 to 2016.

The friends walked every day during the long months and penned their thoughts once getting back home. “We then compared notes and commiserated the story,” said Simpson.

Thus, The Power of Sticks in a Bundle is set in spring 2020, and Savannah is an environmental science student in grad school, while Grada has taken a job as a teacher’s assistant in Yonkers. There, the grandmother becomes friends with a fifth grader named Violet.

Of course, the authors don’t ignore the global storyline, and draw important parallel to the past. Violet’s mom gets Grada to take her daughter to the less populated setting of Somers, and when the time traveling stone is engaged at Angle Fly Preserve, a young African-American girl provides the link.

The elementary school age child has TB, and the standard 1920s recourse is one where familiar with today. People isolated and like the safety we feel out of doors now, fresh air was the closest thing medicine had to a cure.

Not so promising, Savannah provides antibiotics, and the message is contained within. “We are better able to deal with things like Covid through science,” said Simpson

The human touch matters too and falls in line with the underlying theme for book two. “An old African proverb,” said Antonucci, “We’re better working together than alone. Because you can take one stick and break it. But if you bundle them all together, you can’t.”

However, The Power of Sticks in a Bundle did stand alone at the time. The co-authors initially tried to find a publisher for the first book and after deciding on a self publishing platform, they felt the second book was more timely.

Savannah Leap of Faith eventually on the way, the teachers are bound not just on the covers of their books. “Magic Mercury and the Secret Earth Connections begins on 10/10/2020,” said Simpson. “We share the same birthday.”

This time Savannah, Grada and Violet embark in a teleporting van and take part in environmental issues across the country. Their efforts do not go unopposed, though.

But the dose of political reality also provides a blue print for young readers in our polarized society. “There has to be a way for us to communicate with each other, have a dialogue and work towards common solutions.” said Simpson.

The characters find their way in this regard too. But the cause always needs soldiers and the young represent fertile ground for recruitment. A walk in the woods, a fishing trip or spotting the intricacies of a dragon fly’s wings, said Simpson, “It happens quite often in late elementary school. They did something in the environment, and realize that’s, when it clicked for me. That’s when I developed this passion.”

So the human resource there in abundance, the teachers hope the books can help spark the activism our world needs.

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