Birch Bay author releases new children’s book

The book, titled “The Fudgeknuckles of Swampbottom,” is intended for readers age 6 to 13.

Gnomes, pixies and even a swarm of angry wasps make an appearance in “The Fudgeknuckles of Swampbottom,” a children’s book recently released by Birch Bay resident Jo Ann Gilbert Stover.

The book is Stover’s latest venture into children’s writing and is intended for readers age 6 to 13. The story focuses on the Fudgeknuckle family, who lives with a community of tiny gnomes beneath the hulking roots of an old oak tree. Sweetflower Fudgeknuckle, a mother of six, fends for her family even when a swarm of wasps threatens their village, called “Swampbottom.”

The tale ends on a happy note. Stover said, “It brings the family closer together."

Stover moved to Washington in the 1960s to raise her four children; now, she’s a grandmother of 10 children and a great-grandmother of 35.

“I used to make up stories for my own children,” she said. “I have a most vivid imagination.”

Jo Ann Gilbert Stover

Other than “The Fudgeknuckles of Swampbottom,” she’s also authored “Karielle and the Gift of Magic,” “Karielle and the Return of Magic,” “One for the Dragon, Two for the Crow” and “Laban’s Song.” Most of her work falls in the fantasy genre and features spiritual themes.

When writing, she said her goal is to inspire readers to “Make life magical, look for the unusual [and] don’t see the world as entirely what it is, but look for what could be there.”

“The Fudgeknuckles of Swampbottom” is available in paperback for $21.99 and on e-book for $3.99 online at Amazon.com, Xlibris.com and barnesandnoble.com.