This post features the original book cover for Up to Bat for Nana's Place when first published in 2019. The cover was updated when this book became the first in the Shea Nature Camp Series.
Summertime in our family always included a much-anticipated vacation trip and plenty of St. Louis Cardinals' baseball. The story of Bret Collier and Jami Shea began to take shape during our first family trip to Sanibel Island in Florida when our children were young. As I began to develop the characters and plot, it was easy to imagine the island setting of "Nana's Place" while blending in the fictitious "PSK team" connected to the Boston Red Sox spring training location in nearby Fort Myers.
During our Sanibel trip, our children were in awe of and perhaps a bit wary of a small alligator hanging around our condo complex. We nicknamed the creature "Olly Alligator" and soon the idea of the story's infamous "Humphrey" was born. The bike paths around the island also became an integral part of the story.
With the help of my husband who played college baseball at the University of Missouri-Columbia and who patiently coached our two daughters and son, I perfected my baseball references and weaved in the back story of Carson Wills.
During our Sanibel trip, our children were in awe of and perhaps a bit wary of a small alligator hanging around our condo complex. We nicknamed the creature "Olly Alligator" and soon the idea of the story's infamous "Humphrey" was born. The bike paths around the island also became an integral part of the story.
With the help of my husband who played college baseball at the University of Missouri-Columbia and who patiently coached our two daughters and son, I perfected my baseball references and weaved in the back story of Carson Wills.
