Twins inspire mom to write children’s book

A new children’s book fulfills a local mother’s promise to her kids and is now available for sale.

Stunkey the Monkey & His Twin Sister Spunkey is based on Shellie Coles real kids, and even the title was inspired by her son.

“When Dalton was three, he would say something was stinky, he would say it was stunkey,” Coles recalled, “so I started responding, ‘You’re stunkey; you’re Stunkey the Monkey.’”

Although “Stunkey” was never really a nickname for her son, the seed was planted in Coles mind for a children’s book based on twins Dalton and Shelbi and through the years she would say she’s going to write a book. About three years ago, she started working on the project on and off, and then she became more serious about it about three months ago.

“If you tell your kids you’re going to do something, you should do it,” Coles said. “As for why do it now, I’ve always believed things happen when they’re supposed to.”

Coles, who writes under the pen name Shelco, says the book is authentically about her children.

“It’s about my twins. It’s all true.”

Stunkey and Spunkey grow up the best of friends and generally like all the same things. Eventually they develop their own tastes and their own likes and dislikes. Through it all, however, they remain the best of friends.

“There’s a message in there for today,” Coles said. “I think people need to celebrate their differences instead of fighting about them all the time.”

Coles not only wrote the story, but she also illustrated the book. The writing and drawing were fun, but the formatting was a challenge, she said.

“The writing was easy for me,” she said. “I majored in English in college, and I’ve always loved to read. I never thought much about writing a book though; and when I did, I never thought about it being a children’s book.”

Coles self-published Stunkey on Amazon, and the book has gotten good reviews from the people who have read it. It also was number one for five days on Amazon’s New Releases in the Ape and Monkey book category.

There are two people who especially like the book.

“The twins like it,” Coles said. “They were excited when it came in.”

Readers also have not seen the last of Stunkey or Spunkey. Coles is releasing a Stunkey coloring book this week and has plans for a sequel about bullying.

“That one may be a little tougher to write,” she said.

Coles will also be featured on August 12 at a book-signing at the Burton Memorial Library in Clarendon along with two other children’s book authors with local ties – Ashlyn Grotegut, author of Ernie the Eraser, and Julie Barker, author of Hitchin’ Post & the Tornado Twistin’ 4th of July.

In the meantime, Stunkey the Monkey & His Twin Sister Spunkey is available on Amazon for $12.99 and is enjoyable for readers of all ages.