This map will be in the new, Second Edition, of "The Big Squeal" to be released soon. The article below tells more about the map and the very special people who drew it for Miss Liberty and Carol Alexander. As you can see, Miss Liberty made a few muddy pig prints. I hope you don't mind.
Taylorville High School art students created this merry view of Abraham Lincoln's Taylorville. It will open the upcoming Second Edition of "The Big Squeal" written by Liberty the Pig. Also in the new edition will be the first-ever kid-friendly look at the old Eighth Judicial Circuit traveled by lawyer Lincoln on horseback or by carriage for 20 years.
Remaining unchanged is the book's true story told in the voice of a live orphan pig that adopted Taylorville as her home and encountered the world's only statue of Lincoln and a pig on the town square.
The map was drawn by Taylorville High School students Camille Beyers and Mathen Campbell under the direction of art teacher Elizabeth McCowin.
Released earlier this year, the First Edition won many fans, especially children, teachers, historians and pig farmers. The changes, which also include pictures of children of diversity, a child in a wheelchair and a prom going disabled student, were all suggested by readers.
Inclusion of the "circuit" pages was a risky choice, says "as-told-to-author" Carol Alexander. "In other parts of the country, especially, potential readers actually yawn at the word," Alexander says. "But our inner voice says to do it.... after all the circuit prepared Lincoln for the presidency."
To be printed in both soft and hard covers, the Second Edition soon will be on amazon.com and at Cottage Rose Gift Shoppe in Taylorville. The First Edition is in both places. Publisher is Oak Tree Press, Hanford, Calif.
Personalized book signings will be on Friday, Dec. 6 and Saturday, Dec. 7 from 2 to 3 p.m. at Cottage Rose during the "Remember Pearl Harbor" Holiday Home Tour.
The books were written to shine a spotlight on the often over-looked heartland of America, Alexander says. Coffee mugs picturing the map will debut on the tour at Cottage Rose for Christmas shoppers.
