Author Suzanne Hovik Fuller of Sioux Falls spoke with nearly 80 Colman-Egan third through sixth graders before the end of the school year about her book, “The Girl Who Moved to the Town that Wasn’t There.”
She is shown with third grade students at the school, who have read the book in their classroom with teacher Abby Lee.
The story tells the birth of Egan in 1880 through the eyes of Fuller’s grandmother at age 10. The book is historical fiction set at the time that Egan was expanding because the railroad was coming and includes information gleaned from the Egan Express newspaper.
“What was so neat for me is I came full circle in this process,” Fuller said. “All of a sudden I was back talking to kids my grandmother’s age at an Egan school.”
The book, “The Girl Who Moved to the Town that Wasn’t There,” is one of three finalists for the Midwest Independent Publishers Association Children’s Fiction Award. The association, based in Minneapolis, covers a 12-state region, including South Dakota. The winner will be announced in June.
The book was published last year by the Siouxland Heritage Museums in Sioux Falls and is available there and at the Moody County Museum in Flandreau.
To help tell the story of the birth of Egan, Fuller described family heirlooms in the book, as part of the belongings her family had at the time. She brought some of those items as part of her presentation, including a velvet-covered autograph book and the Egan Express newspaper.
“I think Egan has a wonderful history,” she said. “It was a remarkable little town that started out on the prairie.”
