SOMEONE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Maylin pens new perspective on storm
by PATRICK J. NAGY

Grace Maylin

Many people can tell stories about last October's massive snowstorm that knocked out electrical power across Western New York. But nobody in the area has a story from the disaster that is like Grace Maylin's.

In Maylin's book "There Will Come Another - A Lesson from the Trees," released in mid-January, the Windermere Boulevard Elementary fifth-grade special education consultant writes of the storm through the eyes of the trees.

It's the first time Maylin has published a book, although she said it's always been a goal.

Maylin says the book gives a universal message of hope, community and interdependence.

"I want people to get out of the book that we should listen to not only the trees but to each other," Maylin said. "If we listen, new life will come."

Maylin's inspiration for choosing the October snowstorm as her first book came from her licensed massage therapist, Fran Weir, during a session at Mystic Wolf Healing Arts on Wehrle Drive in Williamsville a week and a half after the storm.

"Fran tied it into when the Dalai Lama was here," Maylin said. "She agreed with him that there was so much energy in Western New York that something wonderful was going to happen. She was never expecting anything devastating."

"She said the trees were giving us a message that there's deadwood out there and you need to clear the deadwood away for new life," she added. "The idea of clearing and rebuilding and new life stuck with me."

Weir also told Maylin that she once conducted research that showed trees are interdependent, giving them humanlike characteristics.

The trees in Maylin's book talk as if they are human. For example, the maple tree said it looks "awful" because all it has left from the storm is a trunk. There's also the ancient pine, who because of broken limbs from the storm, decides it should be cut down so younger trees, such as the cypress, can blossom.

"On an adult level, it tells us that we need to be flexible in life and to be able to let go of things," said Maylin.

Also an amateur photographer, Maylin took all of the photos for the book around her Cheektowaga neighborhood, and by Windermere.

Maylin said her book is also a good teaching tool for children as it teaches different literary forms such as personification and voice of the author.

Maylin, who did not go through a publisher, said the entire process until printing took six weeks. New Rosen Printing printed 1,000 copies of the book, of which 250 have been sold.

"Publishing a book was a whole new experience," said Maylin.

Maylin said her book is selling for $9 at Talking Leaves, 3158 Main St., (near the University at Buffalo Main Street campus) and 951 Elmwood Ave., near Bidwell. Forty percent of the proceeds will go to Re-Tree-WNY, a grassroots organization started in November by about 40 Western New York residents whose mission is to grow 30,000 trees in five years. Their first planting will be on Arbor Day, April 27. Maylin will have a booth through Re-Tree at Plantasia, held March 22 through 25 at the Erie County Fairgrounds Agri-Center.

Maylin hopes to pen more books. One idea she has in mind is a book on Christmas reflection poems on general topics such as joy or peace. She would also like to have photos displayed at the Allentown Art Festival.