Charles Sharpe started out dreaming up stories about 12 imaginary brothers. He then began to tell those stories to his three real-life daughters, which they never forgot. They encouraged their father to have them published and last November the first in a series of 13 planned My Twelve Brothers and Me books came out. It was soon followed by two more volumes, which have captivated the hearts of many, who either hear them or read them themselves.
Each of the three books so far is about a different brother. Each brother has some kind of remarkable talent.
“Each of them was exceptional,” says Sharpe. “And each of them has disappeared in a most astonishing and sometimes mysterious way. Creely, the youngest brother, was swept out into the ocean while surfing on a giant maple long john. Marty Two Shoes made a left hand turn around a corner that no one else could see and disappeared without a trace. This third story is about my brother Giant George, and though it saddens me to say so, he too has to go.”
Sharpe, a former teacher with a degree in psychology, works in collaboration with his daughter Cara, an elementary school teacher in Telegraph Creek, B.C.
“I write the books and my daughter does all the illustrations,” says Sharpe.
Both Charles and Cara Sharpe will be in Salmon Arm to sign copies of the books Saturday, May 12 – at Bookingham Palace Bookstore in the Mall at Piccadilly from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and at Hidden Gems Bookstore on Alexander Street from 3 to 5 p.m.