Local author pens tale of ‘Nosey Nellie’

Lucy McGuire said after writing and illustrating three books, it’s time to put her writing career to an end.

At the age of 96, McGuire said it’s becoming harder for her to see due to macular degeneration.

“This is the last one, I think,” she said. “My eyes are not all that great anymore.”

Her latest book is titled “Nosey Nellie Finds a Best Friend” and tells the story of how the youngster from the previous books finds that “knowing about Jesus is not the same as knowing Him.”

Her first book, “Nosey Nellie Visits the Farm,” tells the story of a girl named Nellie, whose curiosity about who provides the food for her breakfast leads to a visit to the farm.

The story is much more than a youngster’s field trip – it teaches children of God’s provisions for them every day…something McGuire feels is important for the younger generation to know.

“I think (if) you start teaching a child when they are very young, it goes with them for the rest of their life,” McGuire said in 2014 after writing the book. “God loves them and provides for them. Even though they can’t see Him. The nosier they get, the more things they’ll find out what God does for them.”

McGuire wrote and illustrated a second book in 2015, titled, “Nosey Nellie Finds the Real Christmas,” and telling of the important lesson learned by the inquisitive young lady.

“I thought (Nellie) might need to know about why we celebrate Christmas,” she said in 2015. “God inspired me. At my age, I would have never thought of doing such a thing. But He gave me what to say.”

McGuire felt it was important to finish her set of books about Nellie with the story of the real Easter.

While her eyes may not be the best, McGuire acknowledges it is “God who holds my hand” as she puts together each story.

Like her first two books, McGuire creates all the artwork for the story using oils. Once finished, it is sent to her niece, Elizabeth Peters, who works for Printstar Publishing in Florida and creates the graphic design for the final publication.

She sold more than 200 copies each of her first two books to residents and employees at Ashbrook Manor – where she resides – along with a book signing at Farmington Public Library.

“These books have been going out fast,” she said. “I know (the books) are going to do what God wants them to do, wherever they are going to go.”

She shared the story of a mailing mix-up for copies of the first two books to a friend who lives in the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee – an area McGuire lived for a number of years.

“I messed up the last number on the address,” she said. “I called my friend a week later and she said she didn’t get the books.”

The local friend who took the package to UPS for McGuire contacted the company in hopes of tracking down the books.

Not so surprising to McGuire was the fact a representative with the company remembered making the delivery and was able to recover the missing books.

“God works out things for you. When He wants something somewhere it’s going to get there somehow.”

Lucy McGuire has published her third and final book on Nosey Nellie.

Shawnna Robinson is the managing editor of the Farmington Press and can be reached at 573-518-3628 or srobinson@farmingtonpressonline.com