Local author honors military families

With patriotism and her family in mind, Durham author Betty Turnbull wrote the now award-winning children’s book, “A Sergeant in the House” last summer.

Turnbull recently received a gold medal for the book from the Stars and Flag book awards, which honor literature focused on the military.

“I wanted to be able to contribute and give something back to those who risk and pay very large prices for our freedoms,” Turnbull said.

All of the royalties from Turnbull’s book will go to Hope for the Warriors, an organization that helps soldiers and their families by providing services, such as job training, making homes handicap-accessible and granting wishes through “A Warrior’s Wish.”

“What I really liked about Hope for the Warriors is that it was started in North Carolina, by North Carolina wives of military service people who after 9/11 had their spouses and other friends returning from war with injuries, with PTSD, with a lot of problems, and no real infrastructure to help them,” Turnbull said.

The idea for Turnbull’s book stemmed from both her desire to give back to service members and her granddaughter’s desire for a puppy. “A Sergeant in the House” tells the story of a child whose father is off at war and is promised a puppy after his father becomes a sergeant. But his father gets injured and has to return home before he can achieve his goal.

The book is being published by Light Messages — a Durham-based publishing house. Turnbull’s exploration of difficult themes for a children’s book — such as war and sacrifice — are what makes the story so unique, said Light Messages senior editor Elizabeth Turnbull, who is also Betty Turnbull’s daughter.

“I think that’s really important, because it’s easy to talk about the military in general terms, but our children don’t really understand what that means and what risks are involved,” Elizabeth Turnbull said.

This is the mother-daughter pair’s first time working together on one of Betty Turnbull’s books, though they have worked together on other projects through their family business.

“When I was a child, she would always coach me in my writing and encourage me to write stories and be creative,” Elizabeth Turnbull said. “So it was really fun to kind of turn the tables and get to help her put together a story that was really close to her heart.”

Elizabeth Turnbull called the award extra sweet given that her brother, and Betty’s son, was serving in Afghanistan at the time the award was received. It is also the publishing company’s first award for a children’s book.

When writing the book, Turnbull reached out to friends whose spouses are serving in the military, hoping to gain input on the story’s plot and share it with their children. Turnbull said their positive feedback encouraged her to go forward with the project.

Turnbull has written several other children’s books, many of which attempt to illuminate problems and find solutions to them, her friend and fellow author Deborah Hining said.

“It has all of the values that Americans want to instill in their children of responsibility and self-sacrifice and kindness and love — it’s just a very tender, touching story,” Hining said.

arts@dailytarheel.com