Tambra L. Eifert, professor of geology at Washburn University, has written a book, “Zoey’s World- Growing Up in Johnson Hollow”, which will be available at the Ichabod shop on Friday. The 248-page historical fiction talks about the life and adventures of a young girl who grows up in a community near the woods.  

Eifert credits her mother as an inspiration for writing the book.

“Old people and their talks are often neglected,” said Eifert. “While my mom and her sisters were reminiscing their adventurous childhood, I thought about bringing all her experiences together and writing a book about it.”

Parts of the book are real life incidents and parts of it are fictional. The book has a total of 10 chapters, in which each chapter is a short story defining the adventures and life learnings of a girl from ages 8 to 11.  

Eifert said that she hopes that the book shall be suitable for readers of all age groups. She thinks that young people will sense the enjoyment of all of the adventures while helping elderly people to reminisce their childhood.

“Fiction is all about letting people paint their own picture,” said Eifert.

She believes that the fun, emotions and adventures of Zoey would make people feel like they are part of the story themselves. The book, first published in January 2019, was edited multiple times before being rereleased in July of the same year. Eifert also said that the names and characters of the people have been changed to maintain their privacy.

“Dr. Eifert has proved that you can do anything,” said Susanne Faulkinbury, one of her friends who helped her and gave suggestions while writing the book. “For Washburn students, it will be really cool to read something fictional written by their science professor,” said Faulkinbury.    

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Edited by Erica Faulkinbury, Adam White, Jessica Galvin