New childrens book spotlights founding of Bradenton, complements Riverwalk expansion
Eighteen months after the idea was conceived, Realize Bradenton has published a limited edition children’s book focused on the rich history and environment of the pioneer town of Manatee, where the city of Bradenton was born.
Titled “Old Manatee A to Z,” the book marries writing and artwork about the East Bradenton area with each letter of the alphabet. Content was vetted by local experts for accuracy, and by a focus group of six to 10-year-old children for interest and age-appropriateness.
Children’s author Ryan G. VanCleave wrote the book, and local artist Don Brandes illustrated it with more than 26 unique illustrations.
Johnette Isham, executive director of Realize Bradenton, proposed the idea as a companion to city plans to extend Bradenton’s Riverwalk to the east.
Three of the images in the book will be reproduced on displays at the proposed children’s reading area on the expanded Riverwalk, said Jodi Carroll, special projects manager for Realize Bradenton.
Realize Bradenton collaborated with local experts at the Manatee County Historical Records Library, Manatee County Central Library, Manatee Historical Village Park, Reflections of Manatee, and local naturalist, Karen Willey to research the book’s content.
Brandes studied photographs and historic maps for his illustrations.
Phaedra Dolan, director of Manatee County Historical Records Library, along with Cathy Slusser and Krystin Miner, all contributed suggestions to help make the book as accurate as possible.
“One of the fun parts was looking at the artist’s rendering and seeing what would be appealing to a child,” Dolan said.
“We might make a suggestion on clothing and what would be appropriate for the time,” Dolan said.
Plans for the $7.5 million Riverwalk expansion project have been presented to the Bradenton City Council. The Manatee Mineral Springs Park would be the final destination for the expanded Riverwalk, and would include a spotlight on the historical significance of Angola, where escaped slaves took refuge and used the spring as a source of drinking water.
Realize Bradenton created this book about the community, by the community, for the community, with generosity and support of local businesses and individuals, Realize Bradenton said in announcing publication of the book.
“We are honored that an anonymous out-of-state foundation funded the startup costs with 12 community-minded sponsors, we affectionately refer to as, ‘Champions of Education,’ invested to provide more than 8,000 books free to local students,” Realize Bradenton said in a press release.
To encourage the engagement and creativity of young students, a coloring book was also funded by sponsors.
The soft cover books and coloring books are expected to be available at https://shop.realizebradenton.com/ in early November. The books will sell for $15 and the coloring books for $5.
To view a sample of a few pages of the book, visit https://simplebooklet.com/publish.php?wpKey=VjWXzGgrdcKip9j9tO5Wm4#page=0.
Quantities are limited, and can be reserved on the Realize Bradenton web site.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
