Submitted PhotoLaney Dowdy and Janice Daugharty wrote 'Nannie's Moon' years ago. The story is now an illustrated children's book.

VALDOSTA – When Laney Dowdy went to kindergarten, she told teachers she knew how to read, saying, “I already know how. I’ve got a book.”

She started writing a book as a small child with her grandmother, Janice Daugharty. A natural pursuit given her grandmother has several novels and story collections published on a national and regional level.

A few years ago, with Dowdy as an adult, they published the children’s story of “Nannie’s Moon” as an e-book. They visited a Valdosta-area book club to promote the book and Dowdy read the story to club members.

But the book had no illustrations. 

“She was in college and we hoped to make just enough money to pay for Laney’s school books,” Daugharty said. “But there’s not a lot of interest in a children’s book without illustrations.”

Dowdy was a psychology major at Valdosta State University. She worked as a catering assistant at Covington’s. She lived in Madison, Fla.

Last May, she had been visiting her grandparents, Janice and Seward Daugharty, at their Echols County home. She wrecked her vehicle leaving their house, Janice Daugharty said. She was hospitalized and passed away a few days later.

Laney Dowdy was 26 years old.

She would have been 27 Sunday, Feb. 10, the same day when the newly published “Nannie’s Moon” will be released during a book launch at the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts.

The book is illustrated by artist Deborah Bailey Raines. Valdosta-based Snake Nation Press published the book. 

Proceeds from the book will go to the Amelia Elaine Dowdy scholarship fund for VSU psychology majors; the scholarship was recently established in Dowdy’s memory, Daugharty said.

Daugharty said she wanted to see the book illustrated and published in print to also honor her granddaughter.

Daugharty knows a great deal about publishing a book.

In the 1990s, her novel, “Dark of the Moon,” put the Echols County native and resident on the national map for readers.

Throughout the 1990s, several more novels followed: “Earl in the Yellow Shirt,” “Paw Paw Patch,” “Like a Sister,” “Whistle,” published by Harper Collins. Her books received national attention and even a Pulitzer Prize nomination.

In the past decade-plus, she has continued writing, publishing and discovering the world of independent publication through e-books. Snake Nation Press published her novel, “Gator Jack,” a few years ago.

“Nannie’s Moon” is about a little girl who learns of the natural cycles of life from her grandmother.

“They watch the moon waxing and waning; they watch the tomatoes grow from tiny yellow flowers to red, ripe orbs,” according to a blurb about the book. “The little girl sees herself compared to the grandmother – one young, the other old. They watch the new moon rise again and the starting over.”

A book about the ebb and flow of life. A book about a grandmother’s love for her grandchild.

BOOK LAUNCH

Book launch for “Nannie’s Moon” by Janice Daugharty & Laney Dowdy with illustrations by Deborah Bailey Raines. Music by area band Dirty Bird and the Flu. 

When: 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10.

Where: Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts, 527 N. Patterson St.

The book may be purchased from the arts center or by visiting snakenationpress.org.