LAKEPORT ? At 13, Lakeport seventh-grader Bundita “Bunny” Kosolcharoen has already written and illustrated a book.
Manga characters and facts about Lake County”s history, geography and wildlife fill the 16-page activity book, titled “The Book You Can”t Miss (for juniors).” It is geared to elementary school-age children and pre-teens. She donated the book to the Lake County Marketing Program after spending 100 hours creating it. The Lake County Board of Supervisors honored Kosolcharoen Tuesday with a commendation for her contribution.
“I really care about my community and that”s why I created this project. I”m proud to educate others about the hidden jewel of our county,” Kosolcharoen said.
The book is available at the Lake County Visitor Center in Lucerne. Kosolcharoen approached Lake County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox last year about creating the book and distributing it.
“It was such a pleasure to work with her. She is a very wise and mature young lady ? far beyond her years,” Lake County Senior Administrative Analyst Jennifer Hammond said.
Kosolcharoen said she was inspired when she learned about the Grand Canyon National Park Junior Ranger program during a People to People Youth Leadership Forum she attended last April. Seeing no such promotional material for her hometown, Kosolcharoen set out to educate her peers.
“I wanted to promote our county to other people, and I think even some of the kids who live here don”t know a lot about Lake County,” Kosolcharoen said.
In her book, Kosolcharoen writes the Pomo meaning of “Konocti,” the name of Lake County”s centerpiece mountain. A Manga Indian character stands by a brief synopsis of the Pomo legend of “moon tears,” a volcanic glass unique to Lake County.
The book also contains a description of poison oak and how to treat it, and instructions about how to make standing and flying origami cranes.
Kosolcharoen said it took her five months to research the information for the book, draw cartoon-like, Manga characters for each page, design the book and print it. She said creating the book will help her earn her Girl Scout Silver Award, the highest award a cadet can earn.
Presenting the commendation Tuesday, Supervisor Rob Brown said she wrote an essay that won her baseball team an opportunity to attend a San Francisco Giants game for free.
“She was introduced to the audience in the stadium as a representative from Lake County. So we”re very proud to have her as our ambassador in that respect,” Brown said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
