Author gleans inspiration from sneezy frustration

An idea came to Eudora resident Stephanie Pascua during a long car ride with her husband and her infant daughter.

After a common but irritating occurrence of feeling the need to sneeze coming and then disappearing, Stephanie looked at her daughter and asked, “Don’t you hate it when a sneeze leaves?”

She said she and her husband then joked about where a sneeze might go when it leaves.

The experience gave her the idea to write a children’s book based on the adventures of a sneeze after it leaves. The book is appropriately titled “When a Sneeze Leaves.”

The children’s story follows an odd-looking, personified sneeze through countries across the globe, with illustrations depicting what a sneeze might do in those areas. Information on each page teaches children which languages are spoken in each country and the proper greeting to follow a sneeze, such as “Bless you.”

Pascua said she researched the countries and relied on the help of others who were familiar with the languages to complete the text of the book.

Illustrations were created by Lauri Terhune, an elementary school art teacher from Mulvane who is a colleague of Pascua’s father.

After the book was completed, Pascua decided to have it self-published by finding a service on the Internet that would do the printing.

Pascua said she had written several poems and short stories, but “When a Sneeze Leaves” was the first project she chose to take to the next level by having it published.

Eudora resident Stephanie Pascua recently published a children's book called When

A book signing is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 9 at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

Pascua said she had enjoyed sharing the book with her family and friends.

“That’s why I did it,” she said. “For friends and family — not to become famous.”

A book signing by Eudora author Stephanie Pascua is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 9 at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

She said she already had been working on a new project that she hoped to ship to publishing companies. It’s a six-book series for toddlers featuring four insects who are good friends. The books are intended to help teach colors, numbers, rhyming and team work.

The text for several of the books already has been written, and Pascua said Terhune had begun illustrating the first book.