More than 10 years after their first children’s book was published, Heidi Schultz and Amy Hudson are out with a second one titled “Little Dinky’s Big Adventure.”
Shultz, who wrote it, and Hudson, who created the illustrations will be at Barnes & Noble, 2617 Loop 250 Frontage Road, in Midland Aug. 5. The reading starts at 1 p.m.
Both graduated from Permian High School in 1991. Schultz lives in Los Angeles and Hudson lives in Lubbock.
“Little Dinky’s Big Adventure” follows a baby hummingbird from his birth to his first flight with all of the predicaments and obstacles along the way that makes his determination to reach his dream of flying even more important. The book is based on of a real baby hummingbird and includes actual photos of his journey right outside of Schultz’ kitchen window.
Their first book was the “Twelve Dreams of Christmas.”
“She’d never done a children’s book before and I knew her artwork. We grew up together and I knew how beautiful her artwork was and I said, hey would you like to do a children’s book,” Schultz said in a phone interview.
“It took a little convincing as she’d never done one, but it just turned out (to be) the most beautiful work, so then when I wrote the second book it was a no-brainer knowing how the first one turned out so beautifully that I would call her again and say I have another book.”
Schultz said she wasn’t pursuing writing for children, but she has a background in working with them.
“I’m an actress, so I love being a storyteller … One day, ‘The Twelve Dreams’ just kind of dropped in my head. I was writing something totally different, not for children at all. No other way to say it, it just kind of came to me and I could not write fast enough,” Schultz said.
“Then with Dinky’s book I sell photography on the side and have a great camera and lens. It was my first experience with a baby hummingbird right outside my kitchen window. The nest was sitting there and for three weeks straight I just sat in my kitchen … and took picture after picture after picture,” she added.
She sent an update to her mother and sisters with photos she took one day.
“One day I decided to do it as a story, so I took eight or nine of the photos and sent them an email with Dinky because I’d already named him. His mom and dad are resident hummers we had named Humperdinck and Humperdinka. We had to come up with something that worked with the name, so Dinky kind of rolled out of that.”
She sent the story to her mom and sisters and they all wrote back and told Schultz she should make it into a book.
“It was a very fun adventure and something I’d never experienced before,” Schultz said.
She added that people who follow her on Instagram or Facebook know she’s a “hummingbird junkie.”
When Schultz and her husband moved into their house in 2019, Humperdinck and Humperdinka were already residents.
“Hummingbirds stay year-round in Los Angeles … We started feeding them and had more and more come,” Schultz said.
She added that one of her friends is a reading specialist in the LA area and told her it was a great combination of non-fiction and fiction where children can get a whimsical story about a real hummingbird and see it taking place.
Schultz said she’s very excited about returning to Odessa for the book signing.
“I’ve not been since my other book came out, so it’s over 10 years. I have so many people who’ve already said where is it? When it is it?” Schultz said.
And people want to meet for a mini reunion.
Both the families of Schultz and Hudson have left Odessa since they graduated high school.
Schultz said she has done mostly film and TV in LA.
“I seem to have landed in the world of stand in and photo double,” she said. “I just finished Season 2 of the Lincoln Lawyer working as Neve Campbell’s stand-in and then this season Lana Parilla, who was the evil queen on Once Upon a Time, she’s in Season 2. I worked as her stand-in as well as her photo double. Then last year, I worked as Lauren Graham’s stand-in and photo double for ‘The Mighty Ducks.’”
“It wasn’t something I sought after, but it fell in my lap and I’ve had a great time doing it,” Schultz said.
She added that she’s had a passion for acting and writing from an early age.
“I was doing little plays and things. I had a wonderful fifth grade teacher who I actually (mention) in the book,” Schultz said.
Schultz told her former teacher she was one of the reasons she was pursuing the career she has.
The book took a little longer to produce due to COVID, but she is “super-excited” to share the hummingbirds.
“You can feel it through his photos that are in the book of how much he wanted this, so to get to share that with others is just a delight for me,” Schultz said.
