Stony Brook author honored

Stony Brook author Cindy Sommer and her debut picture book “Saving Kate’s Flowers” has been recognized with a Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators 2017 Crystal Kite Award for New York.

Each year, 15 books are honored from U.S. and international regions from more than 1,000 nominated books. Members of SCBWI vote to honor the outstanding work of their peers in the genre of children’s books. SCBWI is the only professional organization specifically for those individuals writing and illustrating for children and young adults in the fields of children’s literature, magazines, film, television and multimedia.

Sommer has always been passionate about writing, but it was her daughter’s desire to save the flowers from winter’s fate that inspired her first picture book. She tucked the idea away and years later set out to make the story come to life. The whimsical illustrations by Laurie Allen Klein feel familiar with a nod to Beatrix Potter and her rabbit family that lived in the human world.

To read a book review of “Saving Kate’s Flowers,” visit www.tbrnewsmedia.com.

Sommer will be reading and signing copies of her award-winning book on Monday, June 19, at Harborfields Public Library, 31 Broadway, Greenlawn from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. For more information on this event, call 631-757-4200.