MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Former Georgia Military College Prep School teacher Karen Grimes may have retired from the profession in 2017, but she was by no means finished encouraging young people to learn. 

The longtime educator has all the while kept Georgia on her mind and will celebrate the launch of her first children’s book titled, “A Celebration of the Georgia State Symbols,” with a signing event scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday in the Usery Community Room of GMC Prep’s Usery Hall. 

The book will be available for purchase at the signing, and those who buy a copy will also be given a free, “A Celebration of the Georgia State Symbols” bookmark to go along with their copy.

“It’s very exciting,” Grimes told The Union-Recorder in a Tuesday phone interview. “My mother (Evelyn Knight who lives in Bainbridge) and I illustrated it together, so the story had to change a little as we went along because I couldn’t illustrate some of the things I had put in it originally. It was a work in progress and it changed along the way, but it’s been this wonderful learning experience for me because I had never done anything like this before.”

In all Grimes taught at GMC Prep for 29 years, starting her career at the sixth- and seventh-grade levels. She eventually moved to teaching Georgia history, which is where she really found her passion as she stayed with the subject for her final 15 years at the school. Grimes retired at the end of the 2016-17 school year when she was also honored as GMC Prep’s Character Educator of the Year, but all the while she had post-retirement plans brewing in her mind.

“I had been thinking about it before I retired, and I wanted to do something fun when I retired,” Grimes said. “I loved teaching Georgia history, so I wanted it to be a children’s book about Georgia. I have two granddaughters and I started looking for some books to read to them about Georgia. Most all the books just told facts, so my book kind of tells a story while also giving facts about the Georgia symbols.”

“A Celebration of the Georgia State Symbols” follows brown thrashers (the Georgia state bird) Mark and Maggie who live in a native azalea bush (the Georgia state wildflower). The two are heading to a picnic, and on their quest, they learn more about Georgia’s state symbols ranging from the state tree (live oak) all the way to the state song (“Georgia on My Mind”) with many others, even the more obscure ones, found along the way. Grimes’ knowledge and enthusiasm for the Peach State’s history are evident all throughout her 38-page work.

The book is dedicated to Georgia First Lady Sandra Deal, “in appreciation of her efforts to further children’s literacy in the state of Georgia.” Deal even gave a statement in support of the work saying, “This book is a wonderful and creative way to learn about Georgia’s symbols,” in a press release from Mountain Arbor Press, a publishing company for independent authors like Grimes. 

The longtime educator is just happy to have her first work completed at this point but did not rule out more creations down the road.

“In the beginning, I had thought that this would be a series, and I’m still thinking about it,” she said. “I want to get this one under my belt first, but I’ve thought about doing different stories using some of the same characters telling different things about Georgia.”

Thursday’s signing at GMC is the only one on the books at the moment, though Grimes hopes to hold another in her mother’s hometown of Bainbridge in the fall and may return to GMC for alumni weekend festivities.