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Turtle's Tale Rises To Top

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By KLINT LOWRY

klowry@suncoastnews.com

Published: December 17, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Not unlike the title character of his children's book, author Bob Z. Hicks slowly, steadily keeps on achieving.

Hicks' wife, Betty, recently went to the mailbox and found two boxes. They opened the boxes, and that's when they found out the Florida Writers Association had not only named Hicks' "Tommie Turtle's Secret" the best self-published children's book for 2008, but the Book of the Year grand prize winner in the association's annual Royal Palm Literary Awards competition.

The boxes contained the trophies for those awards, which had been announced at a conference held Nov. 14-16 in Lake Mary.
Betty Hicks said she and her husband had almost forgotten about having entered the contest last summer when an invitation to the conference came in October.

"We opted not to go," she said. It was a long drive, and there was nothing in the invitation that hinted their book was even a finalist, much less the winner of either award.

They were pleasantly surprised when they saw the book won in the children's literature category.

The book had been picked up by a local distributor, making it available at area bookstores, including Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble.

"The biggest surprise was being named book of the year," Bob said. "To win over all the adult fiction, the novels, all those categories."

A former educator, Hicks tried a new take on Aesop's "The Tortoise and the Hare" fable in writing "Tommie Turtle's Secret." He reworked the story so parents and teachers could use it to help children develop an appreciation for literature and instill in them concepts such as individuality and social responsibility.

The awards follow honors from the 2005 Florida Christian Writers Conference for Best Submission for Children's Writing and the 2007 DragonPencil Silver Medal for Children's Literature.

Bob Hicks' book also got glowing reviews from the judges at the Writer's Digest 16th annual International Self-Published Book Awards. It earned high marks in areas such as structure, design and grammar.

"This reader would certainly recommend this book not only to families, but to teachers in the classroom," one judge wrote.

With these latest awards and endorsements, Bob Hicks hopes his book is accumulating enough credentials to get the attention of school districts and booksellers.

In the meantime, the couple are putting the book to good use. They are offering it at a discounted rate to schools and nonprofit groups for fundraisers.

For information about the special rate, call (727) 842-8314.

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