Dr. Lina Lukashevich’s first children’s book can take residents on an adventure in an area quite familiar to them.
“The book, ‘Kayak Anna and the Palindrome Creek,’ is a thinly-veiled autobiography,” said Lukashevich. “I get inspiration from being in Brookfield. For example, I saw that someone had thrown a rusty lawnmower in Salt Creek. In my book, the lawn mower becomes a monster that comes alive and starts running amok.”
North Riverside librarian Kathleen Spale created the book’s cover art.
Instead of attending S.E. Gross Middle School, the children in the book attend S.E. Keer School, and the creek is named Keer Creek instead of Salt Creek.
“It’s the story of a girl who cleans up her neighborhood creek. Along the way, she learns about environmental activism, forgiveness and ravenous trolls,” Lukashevich said. “While on a kayaking trip, Anna flips over and ends up in a troll kingdom.”
After a trip to Africa, Lukashevich said she wanted to write a book to inspire children to clean up their environment.
“You’d see people drinking and bathing in terribly polluted rivers,” she said. “
Lukashevich is donating profits from book sales to Living Water International, an organization providing clean drinking water around the world by drilling new wells and providing drinking systems.
“It’s $100 per family,” Lukashevich said. “So far, sales of the book have provided clean drinking water for six families for a generation — about 25 years.”
The book, sold for $10, is available for purchase on the Web at kayakanna.org and amazon.com and also at For the Birds, 9207 Broadway Ave., Brookfield.
GET TO KNOW: Dr. Lina Lukashevich, author
FAMILY Husband, Johnny, married for 16 years
RESIDENCE Brookfield
EDUCATION Bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology master’s degree in linguistics and doctorate in education
Notable
Lukashevich is working on a trilogy of Kayak Anna books. The second one is called “Kayak Anna and the Manatee Springs,” and is about Anna rescuing a manatee in Florida.
& quotable
“I love kayaking around here. You see so much nature every day,” Lukashevich said.
Philosophy
“The inspiration to write is a spiritual exercise.”
Favorites
FOOD Yorkshire pudding
BOOK “The Last Battle” by C.S. Lewis
MOVIE “Trains, Planes, and Automobiles”
VACATION SPOT Costa Rica
