The clip-clop of horse hooves, the wail of a fire truck siren, the vroom of the street sweeper…these are some of the sounds and sights experienced in Paducah’s Lower Town—and now captured by local author Stephanie Felker in her children’s book, A Look Out My Window. The book is dedicated to Stephanie’s son, Milo, and daughter, Ollie, and reveals her passion for helping kids learn in creative ways.
“I wanted to create something I was proud of that captured my children’s childhood. It’s my love letter to Lower Town, where we lived for over 12 years,” Stephanie said. She calls her now ten-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter her “little coffeehouse children,” since Etcetera Coffeehouse was a Paducah place they frequented during their downtown days.
The book is a visual and auditory experience through the eyes of a younger Milo and Ollie as they react to the unique sights and sounds viewed from their own window: garbage trucks, the trolley, fire trucks, and even the neighbor’s dogs. “What’s that?” toddler Milo always squealed while running to the window to take a look and pinpoint the neighborhood noises. “Moky, Moky!” he cried when Smoky the horse passed by pulling his carriage.
“It was really important to me to create a fun-filled sensory journey of the sights and sounds they saw out their window every day and help them bring back those childhood memories,” Stephanie says.
Since A Look Out My Window celebrates family and the community in which we live, it is only fitting that it is available downtown at Raven & Moth and will be sold through other local partners soon. The McCracken County Public Library, where Stephanie’s tots have also traveled to on the town trolley, and West Kentucky Community and Technical College Library carry the book. You can also order online from Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon retailers.
Take a step back in time, climb aboard a charming horse-drawn carriage, and see historic Downtown Paducah as it can only be seen through A Look Out My Window.
