Author to attend library

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Published on Saturday, May 7, 2016

By Sheila Runions

Banner Staff

In 1994 Tina Isaak, then of Rivers, self-published a non-fiction176-page book she titled Rosie. Now at 82 years of age, she has penned another story. The Silver Brigade is a five-chapter soft cover children’s book. 

“It is a read-aloud book for children, probably up to Grade 2. However, I have grown-up friends who have enjoyed it as well. Because the language is not specifically geared for children, I call it read-aloud, but many kids will be able to read it I’m sure.”

Although Tina is an octogenarian, she says, “I think like a child very often, perhaps because I taught many years. I always loved reading to my classes.”

Tina was one of 10 siblings born to Abram and Aganeta Isaak; she lived on two different farms between Rivers and Oak River from 1943-61.  “From 1951 on” she travelled and worked around the world (Alberta, Switzerland, Germany, Togo, Israel) until she returned to Rivers 1993-96.

“In 1996 my two sisters [Agnes and Mary] and I decided it was time for a change. We moved to a house in the woods near Onanole. From there we moved to Erickson and then to Shoal Lake in 2007; we have lived here ever since.”

The Silver Brigade is described by its jacket as an “exciting story! One enters into the writer’s imagination and begins to see life in the clouds and the people moving between heaven and earth. Not only the children will profit from this lovely wee story,” says a book reviewer from Scotland. A Canadian librarian says it is “a delightful tale of adventure and misadventure. A little bit of everything from mischief to suspense; a great read-aloud.”

Tina has her own quotes on the jacket, which explain that in Grade 1 she sang action songs, with one in particular remaining in her memory “all these years. Perhaps that was the spark to this story, which was the result of a flight over Lake Superior when we hit air pockets. I looked out at huge thunderheads and” she wrote in an email for this interview, “imagined inanimate objects thinking and talking like people. Raindrops have adventures.”

She will read parts of her book at Prairie Crocus Regional Library in Rivers on Wednesday, May 18 at 6:30 p.m., where she will also offer it for sale. Not only was Tina’s creative side at work for the story, it also flourished as she illustrated all but one of the 25 pages.

“Luella [Mikkelsen, formerly of Rivers, 2006-November 2015] is my talented niece. She finished her picture with me sitting beside her telling her what to do!”

Following her library visit/sale, the book, which she received in March, will be available to purchase from select businesses in Rivers.