Never Give Up author Jan Everett reading at Turtlefest
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Jan and John Everett are not 'turtle-ologists.'
They call themselves just a couple of Long Point residents with shovels who want to save turtles.
Their passion for saving turtles led to Jan writing a children's book, Never Give Up (2013), featuring Johnny, inspired by her husband, who helps turtles cross a busy road. The underlying theme is 'Johnny never gives up.'
"The original book was just Jan doing it for family and friends," said John, who had retired from London with his wife Jan to live most of the year in Long Point. "The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project people approached us and said, 'look, this is our theme.' So they actually took over the book and now they just pay Jan a royalty."
"They're using it now as a fundraiser," Jan nodded.
"They want to get the message out, and for young children this does the job," said John. "It's an idea to get the awareness out there."
In Tillsonburg, the book fits nicely into the Turtlefest theme and this year the Everetts will be special Turtlefest guests at Annandale National Historic Site. On Saturday, June 14, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Jan will sit on the lawn and read her book to children. And John will have his shovel to show the children how he saves turtles.
"The book will also be there for sale," Jan noted. "It's $9.99 ($10.50 inc. tax)."
Tutlefest promises 'bigger, better'
SAVING TURTLES
Over a lifetime of travelling on the causeway, located in what is now designated the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve, John has saved a lot of turtles.
"We would see a turtle and John would always get out his shovel," said Jan. "We didn't tell anybody, it's just what we would do. So I was proud of him for doing that."
"It's what most Long Point people do," said John.
The idea for a book came in a conversation between Jan, who does illustrations, and her brother-in-law, a writer.
"We said why don't we write a book about John saving turtles. I said, 'well, I can't write anything... I've never written anything,' but you write it and I'll start drawing. But once I started drawing, the words started coming to me."
She took the project on as her own and ran with it.
"Now, it's all my work. And that's really neat."
She was a couple months into drawing, and knew the story, but did not have a title. Her deadline was July 14, 2013, John's birthday.
"On February the 14th, Valentine's Day, John went into the Thrift store in Port Rowan and brought this home."
Holding up a plush green Never Give Up Encourageable Turtle, she read the words 'Never Give Up' written in black letters on its yellow belly. And suddently she had her theme, title and cover – Never Give Up.
"Because that really is the story."
In her book, Johnny carries a turtle across across the road, then uses his skateboard and wagon. Then he has an idea to dig a turtle tunnel under the road, which mirrors the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project.
"That's basically how it happened. This little turtle, he never gives up, and that's exactly what Johnny was doing the whole time. It was just unbelievable."
"It cost me 25 cents at the thrift store," smiled John, who got a deal on a discontinued stuffed toy that might have retailed for $15.99 US when it was new.
"I didn't understand why she was so thrilled when I showed it to her. I always give Jan turtles – our whole cottage is full of turtles..."
"No, it's not full," Jan laughed.
"It looked great," said John, "but I had no idea why she was so excited."
Extremely excited, but not enough to spoil the surprise. She continued to work on the book while John was at work.
"It was soooo hard. I never told anybody until about April when I was just busting. By then I knew that it was actually going to happen."
Eventually she told her sons and they helped edit grammar.
"I had no idea," said John.
July 14th arrived and she presented it in published format. It was a hit – her family loved it.
"It was just going to be a birthday present, so I was only going to make one," said Jan. "Then I thought we'd like to give it to people we know, so I got 50 – because it's cheaper to get 50 copies I guess. So that's what we started to do, we just gave them to our friends. They loved it."
Eventually it was picked up by the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve, and is now marketed online.
The response from the public has been overwhelming, said John.
"Children are mesmerized, whether they're two years old or 12 years old. You can see it in their eyes. It's a page-turner, of course, and that's what you want."
But it appealed to more than just children, he added.
"It's the bigger theme of never giving up. People have got life issues and they need to learn how to deal with them."
SEQUEL
Now that's she's a published author, Jan has been asked to write and illustrate another book.
"I have an idea running around in my head for another one, but I can't do it this year," she said. "I would like to, maybe, do a Christmas one. I do know I would need to have it mean something, and that's hard. But if I can get something across, again, I would love that."