It’s a 326-page love letter to her hometown.
That’s how author Wendy McLeod MacKnight, who grew up in St. Stephen, describes her new children’s book, “It’s A Mystery, Pig Face!”.
The mystery-adventure chapter book is set in Bordertown, as a girl and her best friend find a bag full of money, and try to solve a mystery of who it belongs to, while being trailed by her annoying brother, Lester, whom she dubbs ‘Pig Face’.
McLeod MacKnight says this isn’t the first book she’s written as she wrote a novel when she was only nine years old, “The first draft of this book I wrote thirty years ago. I was living out in Vancouver Island and I was quite homesick for St. Stephen. So, I wrote a first draft and then I just put it in a drawer, and then a few years ago, it’s always been my lifelong dream to write children’s books. So I thought, ‘well, let’s see if this one’s salvageable’.”
She also included many things from St. Stephen in the story, such as Ganong’s, Carmen’s Diner, and St. Stephen Elementary School. She says she resurrected Brown’s Convenience Store, which was one of her favorite hangouts as a child on Lisgar Street.
McLeod MacKnight says people from all over the United States, including her agent and publisher who are stationed in New York, had never heard of New Brunswick, let alone St. Stephen, until now.
She says they are now very enthusiastic about visiting the area, and the feedback from the kids has been amazing.
The book launch of “It’s A Mystery, Pig Face!” is happening tonight at the Garcelon Civic Center from 6-8pm. Books will be available to purchase, and after a reading with some Milltown Elementary School students, McLeod MacKnight will be signing copies.
