BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer
CHRIS KELLY staff Michelle Whitaker Winfrey of Jackson wrote a book in order to explain the concept of a Feb. 29 birthday to son Miles.
JACKSON — Miles Winfrey is a curious boy, according to his mother, Michelle Whitaker Winfrey. He wanted to know when to celebrate his birthday. A simple question, but for the mother of the 11-year-old Jackson boy, who was born in a leap year, it could not be answered with a simple response.
"When a leap year baby is 4, they don’t really understand the calendar, and they don’t understand the concept of leap year," said the 45-year-old Winfrey. "When they turn 8, they begin to see how special they are."
The solution to her son’s question, said Winfrey, was to celebrate his birthday on Feb. 28 the three other years that were not leap years. But for the mother of an only child, a fourth-grader at McAuliffe Elementary School, the dilemma was not just when to celebrate Miles’ birthday, but how best to make his awareness of it an educational experience, too.
"When he was 8, I went to the bookstore to try to find a book about a leap year baby, (but although) there were tons of technical information, I wanted a storybook that a child could relate to," she said.
Winfrey, who is a manager for the Cranbury firm of Playmobil, an educational toy manufacturer, decided that if she couldn’t find a children’s book about children born on leap year, she would write one herself. "It’s My Birthday … Finally! A Leap Year Story" was given life as a literary work last year.
"This book serves the same purpose as the toys manufactured by the company for which I work — they entertain as well as educate," said Winfrey.
Putting her thoughts to paper on Oct. 14, 2002, Winfrey finished a complete first draft just three weeks later. But there were still hurdles to overcome.
"It’s hard for publishers to accept a new writer, so I started my own publishing company called Hobby House Publishing Group, and we already have six new writers (in addition to myself)," said Winfrey, who holds a master’s degree in business from New York University.
Winfrey said that the primary criterion for the books she will publish is they be educational. They can also be short stories or poetry, which she said teach as well as provide enjoyment for young readers. She does not favor material featuring sex or profanity; she also is looking for stories that will promote self-esteem.
"My next book will be an activity workbook, which will be filled with further educational (material) for children," she said. "I’m also continuing to solicit books from aspiring writers that fill the same literary niche (as mine)."
Winfrey has submitted her book for review to book critics, but she is hopeful that word of mouth will also spur sales.
"I’m in the major bookstore databases including Books in Print and the Baker Taylor database, from which libraries as well as bookstores make their purchases," said Winfrey.
Winfrey’s husband of 18 years, John, a sales executive, is supportive of his wife’s budding career in the publishing business. So is her son, for whom she wrote her first book.
It is Miles’ face on the book’s cover that peers wide-eyed through a thicket of lit candles on a birthday cake, as a frog hovers in mid-leap before his astonished gaze. Winfrey said she was pleased by that illustration and others produced for the book by artist Joyce M. Turley of Colorado.
"I got her name through a referral, and I was in love with her work as soon as I saw it," said Winfrey. "Everybody loves the cover, which has what is called ‘shelf appeal.’ "
Winfrey dedicated the book to both Miles and his great aunt Mamie, whose birthdays are separated by 80 years and 20 leap years. However, she was no less concerned that her son’s friends accept his celebrity as the book’s main character as she was the public. She need not have worried.
"Miles was very pleased with the book and took it to camp with him over the summer," said Winfrey. "He’s a little boy and didn’t know what kids would say, but they told him it was cool and that they were happy for him."
Anyone interested in purchasing the book or in submitting a manuscript for publication should contact Winfrey by e-mail at books@Hobbyhousepublishing
group. com, or by visiting the company’s Web site at www.Hobbyhousepublishing
group.com on the Internet.