BFP

time nurse. With work, plus their four children, the Hesters didn't need one more thing to do.

But when entrepreneurial people see a niche that needs to be filled, it's hard to pass up the opportunity. So
thanks to their eldest child, Caitlin, 10, the pair entered the complex and often exasperating world of book
publishing.

The endeavor began simply enough. Jim Hester found a book that sparked his interest -- "Me and Caleb
Again" © 1969 by Franklyn E. Meyer -- at a children's book fair. He remembered reading the book when he
was a child and wanted to share it with his children, particularly his daughter Caitlin, a student at St. Joseph's
Catholic School, who Hester says is a "voracious reader."

Caitlin devoured the old book, a classic tale of two rapscallion brothers, Bud and Caleb, who get into all sorts
of jams. Hester began reading the book to his two boys -- Joey, 9, and Ryan, 7 -- and they couldn't get
enough of it.

"I'd read a chapter a night to the kids, and they loved it. They were laughing out loud," Hester said. "I
thought my kids can't be atypical. There's something here."

Most parents would have just been glad to find a book that held their child's interest for longer than a minute,
but Jim and Darlene didn't stop there. The two scanned the Internet to find Meyer's first book, 1962's "Me and
Caleb," and the cheapest copy they could get their hands on was $84. It was listed on Amazon.com for $124.

The couple thought if they couldn't find the out-of-print books at a reasonable price, they might as well publish
them themselves.

"I thought, 'I'd love to get the rights for the books'," Hester said.

Using the Internet, Hester tracked down the author, Franklyn Meyer, who was living in Florida. Meyer hadn't
published another book since the sequel, "Me and Caleb Again," and had retired 16 years ago after decades
spent teaching and writing for newspapers and other publications. Hester's call took Meyer aback.

"You can't believe how amazed I was. I was surprised and gratified. It's interesting to think there's still
relevancy in words I wrote 40 years ago," Meyer said.

Meyer's path to the children's book business is equally serendipitous as Hester's route to the author himself.
In the late 1950s, Meyer was teaching and coaching at a school in Florida. He also drove the school bus to
and from school, which meant long days for Meyer. After a late dinner, Meyer, who studied creative writing at
University of Missouri, would sit down to write.

A publishing company was holding a children's book contest, and Meyer entered and won with "Me and Caleb."
The hardbound book sold 100,000 copies in United States and was also published in a couple of other
countries. In 1969, the sequel came along, but wasn't promoted very well, Meyer said, and he slowly fell off
the literary map.

Meyer penned a third installment in the series, but it never saw the light of day after Meyer said he "got ticked
off with the literary world." When Jim Hester came around angling for the rights, Meyer jumped at the idea.

Hester said it's been slow getting the fledgling Hester Publishing off the ground, but that the response has
been overwhelming from teachers around the country and fans of the book who remember it from their youth.
Fifteen percent of their orders come from teachers, Hester said.

Sharon Primo, a second- and third-grade teacher at St. Joseph's, is reading "Me and Caleb Again" to her class,
and said her students are always clamoring for the book. It's the timeless story line and the kid-friendly
language that Primo says appeals to the students.

"The stories are very genuine, and the clean humor isn't grotesque. It's very innocent, and the kids are
comfortable with it," Primo said.

The books remind Primo of the old children's classics -- Huck Finn, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys -- because the
themes are such that children throughout the ages can appreciate and relate to them. Hester said the books
cut to the heart of what it means to be a child.

"Kids love them because they're written the way they play. He's just writing a book about kids playing in the
woods, getting in scraps with each other, making secret clubs," Hester said.

The Hesters are selling Meyer's two books over the Internet and hope to publish his third book in June. In the
meantime, the couple is looking to buy other out-of-print children's titles, but it's not as easy as hunting down
the authors on the Web. The Hesters have run into some dead-ends -- authors who died and didn't transfer
their rights, publishing companies that went out of business or large publishing houses that are sitting on the
rights with no intention of publishing the books.

But the couple is undeterred. Hester said they see a void in out-of-print children's books, and they want to fill
it.

"We believe that there's a large demand for traditional things," Hester said.

Contact Lauren Ober at 660-1868 or lober@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com. On the Web
Hester Publishing: www.hesterpublishing.com