Book from Maryville native to launch next week

By Geoffrey Woehlk | February 5, 2021 |

SUBMITTED IMAGE
“Grandmas Are Greater Than Great” explores the changes in daily life over the past 250 years by focusing on grandmothers from across 12 generations.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — A new book by a Maryville native is set to make its way into the hands and hearts of grandmas and grandchildren everywhere on Feb. 9.

“Grandmas Are Greater Than Great,” by James Solheim, will go on sale on Tuesday.

“I write picture books that are really for all ages — for parents and grandparents to enjoy while reading them with their children,” Solheim said in an email to The Forum. “‘Grandmas Are Greater Than Great’ is a book full of appreciation for previous generations — things for parents and grandparents to enjoy while the child wonders at funny stories about grandmas. And of course grandmas will enjoy reading the book because the concept is framed by the story of a grandma reading a book to her grandchild!”

Solheim was born and grew up in Maryville, and graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 1981. He said he knew he wanted to be an author since he was 8 years old.

“I went to Horace Mann and majored in fun,” Solheim said. “When I wasn’t running around at a Bearcat game, hunting for fossils near Punkin Center, or climbing the red towers that used to be in the playground at Horace Mann, I was in our basement on North College Drive writing books at a big desk that my dad made. The books I wrote in grade school were always action-filled mysteries in which two or three grade schoolers confronted ten or fifteen grown-up robbers and subdued them to win back the loot.”

His latest book, a collaboration with New York Times bestselling artist Derek Desierto, explores 250 years of changes and daily life through the lens of grandmas and an ever-expanding family tree that spreads through 12 generations.

“We are all here because of our grandmas — and our great-grandmas, and our great-great grandmas, all the greats going back into history,” Solheim said. “I thought it would be fun to write a story that starts more than two centuries ago, at the time of the Revolutionary War, and goes all the way up to today, in a picture book for young readers. The story begins with a grandma who has eight ‘greats’ on her title of ‘grandma,’ and proceeds to seven ‘greats,’ six, on down to a great-grandma, a grandma, a mom, and on to a child.”

Other critically acclaimed children’s books written by Solheim include “It’s Disgusting — and We Ate It” and “Born Yesterday.”

Left Bank Books in St. Louis will be holding a virtual book launch on Saturday at 11 a.m. And The Bookworm in Omaha, Nebraska, will be holding a Zoom-based Grandpeoples Party on Feb. 13 at 11 a.m.

More information about Solheim and his books, including purchasing options, can be found at jamessolheim.com.