Illustrator Andy Reddout visits the Chamber of Commerce in his first book signing event on Friday
“Genny Sees the Eclipse”, written by Colleen Onuffer and illustrated by Andy Reddout, has been listed as one of the six best books to prepare you for the total solar eclipse on April 8th according to Forbes Magazine.
Six Best Books To Prepare You For April’s Total Solar Eclipse (forbes.com)
“We played around with doing an animated cartoon at first, then we just thought that doing a book would be a better way to bring Genny to life,” says Kelly Rapone Tourism and Marketing Director/Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.
Rapone says the process started in May of 2023 after she was introduced to Andy Reddout by Glenn Clark, who is Creative Director at Crafting A Brand.
“We didn’t know what it was at the time, it was an Eclipse Project,” says Clark.
“The cow didn’t exist. We concepted a bunch of ideas and the cow was just one of them. It could have been something other than the cow, thank goodness it wasn’t.”
To start Reddout created a poster with Genny.
“I made the poster, and then I got a text from Glenn in April that said, do you want to do a children’s book? I’ve been dying to do a children’s book forever. They had a great script, then I drew some pictures. I made sure to simplify things so I could do it a little faster and make it more simple for younger eyes. I also had to give a lot of room for type and text,” says Reddout.
Glenn Clark designed the book working with Kelly Rapone. The whole process took about five months.
“It was a team effort, we all had our roles,” says Clark.
Reddout, an Art Teacher at Victor High School, says the book has been well received. Victor Central Schools has several copies of the book and friends have contacted him after their children brought the book home from school.
The Genny Sees the Eclipse book, solar glasses and other merchandise are available at the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce at 8276 Park Road, or click the link below to shop online:
Genesee The Eclipse – Genesee County, NY | 2024 Total Solar Eclipse – GeneSEEtheEclipse
The book features Genny the Cow who watches the eclipse using glasses and then teaches her barnyard friends to do the same. Genny is the creation of Illustrator Andy Reddout who is an Art Teacher at Victor High School.
Left to right-Brian Cousins/Chamber President, Katy Hobbs/Membership/Marketing Director, Rebecka Preedom/Director of Operations, Lauren Humphrey/Tourism Program Liaison, Kelly Rapone/Tourism/Marketing Director, back row- Glenn Clark/Crafting A Brand, front -Andy Reddout/Illustrator of “Genny Sees the Eclipse”.
Reddout visited the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce on Friday to participate in his first ever book signing event where he spoke with fans, young and old, about the book.
Reddout’s parents, Cathy and Bill Reddout along with his Aunt Roxie Hanford, made a surprise visit to the book signing.
Great job everyone!!!!