COLUMBIA — Hope and Holly Ledgerwood grew up in the small southeast Missouri town of Birch Tree, population 679 in 2010.
In Birch Tree, they were known as "Hoop" and "Holler" because the nicknames mirrored their personalities.
Now 49 and 52, the sisters have mined childhood stories to write a book about their adventures. It's called "Hoop and Holler," and it's the true story of those nicknames and the events that precipitated them.
Last month, they were invited to share the book at Barnes & Noble. It was their third book signing so far, with earlier appearances at Southern Boone Elementary School and the Southern Boone County Public Library, both in Ashland. Their next signing will be Nov. 6 at Birch Tree Elementary School.
Tucked into a corner of the bookstore in the Columbia Mall, Hope began by reading about Poncho, the 700-pound pig on their grandfather's farm.
“He called — ‘Poncho! Come on out! You’ve got yourself some visitors!'” she read in a sweet, girlish Southern accent.
“And as the girls adjusted their eyes to the darkness of the barn, they could see their 700-pound friend lumbering toward them," Holly said.
Attentive kids and adults in the audience scooted forward on wooden benches and chairs to hear what would happen next.
Holly showed their audience a picture of the girls helping each other onto the pig's back: "Poncho gave the best rides ever!"
Small-town memories
The book is actually a collection of memories — playing with the pig, picking dewberries for breakfast, riding in the back of pickup trucks. The sisters noted in the book that their hometown had "the same population as a small jar of jelly beans."
“In retrospect I don’t think we realized how small a town that it was,” Holly said.
“You could walk (anywhere), but we had our bikes," her sister agreed. "You could just hop on your bike and go.”
It took the sisters two years to write "Hoop and Holler," released in January by Columbia-based Rossiter-Ewers Publishing. About 300 of the books have sold, and it is available online through their publisher and at Alan-Anderson's Just Fabulous!, a floral and gift shop, in Ashland.
The women say they always knew they had an unusual childhood. Friends love to listen to their stories, but they didn't realize they were book material until Hope and a friend were chatting about nicknames one day. Hope told the friend, Christa Fegan, that the entire town of Birch Tree called the sisters Hoop and Holler.
"That sounds like a children’s book," Fegan told her.
The book was written on the road. Every five weeks or so, the authors would get in the car and turn the trip into a think tank of ideas and stories.
“It was completely a process of every time we met, we would write a little more,” Holly said. "We'd get a little more ordered."
“Change a few words,” Hope added.
Written on the road
Hope, a fourth-grade teacher at Southern Boone Elementary in Ashland, had read hundreds of children’s books in her career.
“I’ve always said, 'I can do that. How hard can that be?'" she said. "Well, it’s not easy, but there is such a sense of accomplishment and pride.”
Holly, a retail vice president at Landmark Bank, earned her degree in child and family development from MU. She said writing the book has helped her return to her original love of preschool education.
“I am proud of this because it feels like it is taking me back to those roots a little bit,” she said. "I couldn’t be more excited."
The illustrator was a cousin, Judge Bockman, an MU graduate now pursuing a master's degree in visual studies at Missouri State University in Springfield.
The sisters gave him the story and just one black-and-white photograph of the two as children. Bockman then put together 25 pages of illustrations with all the characters in the story. The two women said they were thrilled with his work.
“The first time I saw it, I giggled and I cried at the same time," Hope said.
The small-town feel of the book resonated with the adult readers at Barnes & Noble. Many remembered simpler times where they also ran around their neighborhoods without a care.
“It is almost like a lost world; I just love it,” said Lisa LoPorto, community business development manager with Barnes & Noble.
The authors want to keep bringing that small-town feeling and adventurous nature into the homes of their readers. They are working on their second book about a baby deer they kept as kids.
They have a two-book contract with their publisher and are hoping to extend it.
“We would love it (writing) to be even part time,” Holly said.
“Can I go to part-time teaching?” Hope responded.
“Yeah, job-share." Holly said.
The sisters looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Supervising editor is Elizabeth Brixey.
