Barbara Ann Brownlee - Author

Barbara is a new, self-published author who has always been passionate about writing poetry, with a refreshingly creative style. Her third-generation talent is a natural gift from her Grandma Morris and her mom, Helen. Starting when she was a teenager, Barbara has written poems with flair for party invitations, birthdays, family reunions, retirements, anniversaries, celebration of life services, holiday greetings, thank you notes, and even a letter of recommendation. For many years, her family members bought funny gifts and wrote poems for the annual Christmas gathering with relatives, to make it more entertaining. Barbara is the only daughter and became her mom’s caregiver for seven years. Since Barbara is the fifth child, she asked Helen to share stories about the days before she was born. That’s when Barbara learned about her brother Bill’s struggle to stay alive as a baby and how bananas helped save his life. That ignited her bold idea to write a poetic children’s book in his memory.  

 

When Helen kissed the world goodbye, four days after her ninety-ninth birthday celebration, the COVID shutdown began. The same day, Barbara lost her favorite job as a cosmetic dermatology account executive. At that point, she ventured out of her career lane to pursue a new dream as an author. As a result, she imaginatively crafted Banana Boy Billy. Amazingly, she found out about her fabulous illustrator by chatting with a total stranger in a hair salon. Just when Barbara completed her book, she received a surprise phone call, inviting her to return to her previous sales position.

 

Barbara submitted her children’s book to the International Readers’ Favorite®, 14th Annual Award Contest, and was elated to receive a Five-Star Review by Michelle Stanley, scoring 5 out of 5, in all 6 categories: appearance, plot, development, formatting, marketability, and overall opinion. Barbara is absolutely delighted to share her book with young readers and their families. She hopes they will all become raving fans of Banana Boy Billy! Barbara’s wish is to have her children’s book continue to make a positive impact and spark a ripple effect of kindness for generations to come.