Our author, Earnest Hooks Jr., is a multiverse and multi-talented individual. He was able to acquire his degrees at Howard University's School of Architecture and Harvard's GSD Professional Development Program. As a talented and flexible professional, learning and pursuing his passions never ended with the completion of his academic studies.
With decades of experience as an architect, he also ventured out into writing. He started to make a bigger space for writing passionate poetry. His writing adventure even expanded when he joined and won multiple awards contests in Poetry at Peachtree City Library contests. His first poem was as basic and as simple as living a summer on a farm, yet his words seem to take the audience with him in his clear and vivid words from that unique summer spent on the farm.
Becoming an extraordinary writer is true serendipity. It was an opportunity created and borne out of unforeseen circumstances. Looking back, his work was greatly influenced by a family friend, Lizzie Wilkerson, who was introduced by his mother as a nine year old. Sharing their mutual love and passion for art and poetry, Lizzie Wilkerson left her prized artworks to Earnest Hooks Jr. before her death. Left with her artwork was an unspoken message for our two authors to pursue and continue sharing their works with the entire world.
With the poetic words from our author and the artworks from Lizzie Wilkinson, they make a great team. Her distinct timely works were discovered by Georgia State University during a community outreach campaign and were able to soar to greater heights upon its recognition by NBC Nightly News in 1983. In addition, her filmed art show at Georgia State Gallery was quoted as "Everything sold; some for as much as $500.00." Following other shows, her art was purchased and found its way to three nationally known museums for their permanent collections, including The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
Although seen a distance from his academic and professional career, life on the farm per se is nothing new to Earnest; it was his mother's go-to place every summer since he was nine years old. Indeed, since he took the road of writing, he did nothing less than his best as expressed in an extraordinary children's book entitled, "Let's Go See Mother Wilkerson's Farm: Adventures in Learning Excellence." We get a glimpse of this brilliant author's written words paired with Lizzie Wilkerson's historical art.
This book is designed especially for the pre-k to the 3rd-grade age group, which aims to introduce children to farming through art. The book contains 12 pieces of artwork by Lizzie Wilkerson and includes seven adventures revolving around art, history, and agriculture. This book is a beautiful learning adventure that advocates education of our children to enhance and diversify present and future generations well-being.
Finally, this book of art to teach is more than a children's tale. It is bound together to create a greater appreciation and unforgettable adventure in agriculture through art and to model a conscious awareness of sustainable and self-reliant living. For adults or older members of the family, this book is designed to assist you to teach the basics and necessity of the life skill of cultivating the land and growing food for our tables. As our author vividly stated in one of his interviews, Fulfillment of our parental responsibilities: “I chose this path simply because our children are our greatest assets. They are the highest investments we can make in our communities. Our investments today can produce dividends tomorrow when they become leaders in the nation.”
For exclusive details and a copy of the book, you may contact him at ehookspc@yahoo.com.
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