Mother-daughter duo in Aiken County team up for first book

Stephanie Hill, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·3 min read

Aug. 13—Could you imagine having a book with your artwork published and you are only entering second grade?

Well that's what happened when mother-daughter duo Wimberly and Allyson Yon teamed up to publish their first book, "Allyson & Sam."

Wimberly, an art teacher at Paul Knox Middle School, began writing the book during the pandemic in 2020. She had been brainstorming ideas and got an idea after seeing Allyson and her friend.

"She was playing with her friend who is a Caucasian little girl, and they kept saying 'We're twins, we're twins,'" Wimberly said. "So I said you know, let me just write a book 'Allyson and Sam.' ... So I wrote the book, and I started brainstorming how should I illustrate it. Should I do it digitally? Should I draw it? Should I watercolor? And that took forever."

After trying to figure out how to illustrate the book, Yon said she got the idea to let Allyson do it and then she would just "clean it up."

"If you see, it says illustrated by Allyson and Wimberly Yon because I wanted her to take the lead; but I cleaned it up."

Allyson, who is entering second grade at Byrd Elementary School, said it was fun to draw the pictures for the book.

The book was released in the beginning of June, and Yon said the process wasn't too bad. She used Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), and it walked her through what to do.

"I went through Amazon; I had to put everything on," Yon said. "The whole process is by yourself. They don't do anything, they don't help you, they don't do anything. But they walk you through it; you just have read and follow directions."

With the first book now published, Yon said there are plans to release a second one sometime in November.

That one will be called "Allyson & Ballet," and there are plans for it come come with a ballet bow, she said. This one will feature more involvement from Allyson.

"We're going to both write it and illustrate it," Yon said. "I was asking Allyson last night to brainstorm what she wants to put in the book, what kind of ballet moves she wanted to put in the book. So she's going to take the lead with writing it, as well."

As for why ballet, Yon said it's because Allyson takes ballet and acrobat.

"We thought that would be really cute," Yon said. "Then, of course, we've got to have a third one — "Allyson and Art" — because I teach art in Aiken County."

One difference between the first book and the next book will be how the art is illustrated.

For "Allyson & Sam," the illustration was done with alcohol markers and PrismaColors, Yon said. The second one is going to be digital art, which will work better with Amazon KDP.

"KDP, the colors come out a little more brighter when they're compressed," Yon said. "I think we can accomplish that through having it digital this time. (Allyson) is a great digital artist already."

Yon said she enjoyed working with Allyson on the book. She said with doing this she wants Allyson to understand that she can do anything she wants and be excellent at it.

A book signing is scheduled for February when both books are available, Yon said.

For those looking to purchase the book, it is available through Amazon or can be purchased through her directly. Those who want to purchase a copy directly from Yon can reach her through Facebook.