Florist Blooms As Children's Book Author
With the help of family and friends, Farris shows off her talent for telling stories

By Silver Hogue
Staff Writer
Park Cities People

Snider Plaza florist Angela Farris took a cue from the precocious character in her book, Chrysila, and spread her wings as an author.

After 10 years as the owner of Lane Florist in Snider Plaza, Farris didn’t exactly see herself as a writer. “I didn’t sit down to write the book. It just sort of came to me,” said Farris, who also owns the Blooming Place on Hillcrest Avenue. “One afternoon, it all started coming, and I had to grab paper from everywhere to get it down. I read through it, and it kind of scared me. I put it in a drawer, and I didn’t look at it for the longest time.”

Three years later, Farris said she hesitantly went back and read the piece about a newborn caterpillar’s struggles and was surprised it still had the same effect on her.

“It made me kind of happy and sad, and I thought, ‘What a fabulous story,’?” she said.

After garnering a similar response from friends and family, Farris began the illustration process — a task that took seven years.

“It took a while to get it to where I could look at it and feel like I was done,” said Farris, who recruited her mother, Barbara Dewberry, and artist Ann Boyajian to help with the book’s art. “I would go to my mom’s house on Sundays, and she would paint one, and I would paint another, and we would sit there, laugh, and talk. I figure, if anything, the best thing that came out of [the book] was that time together. It was so much fun.”

Farris’ penchant for gardening and nature plays an important role in the artfully done book, which was released in mid-October. The colorful pages reflect the brilliant colors found throughout her floral shops.

“It’s a pretty book,” she said. “I can’t even say it’s my book, because I feel like it was a gift. I feel like I have a gift and a responsibility to color in it and make it come to life. Now I have the responsibility of protecting it and getting it where it needs to be.”

Farris said the theme of the book is finding out who you are and what you want to be, and staying true to that.

“It’s a story that I believe mimics our own lives and the transitions that we make,” she said. “When we’re young, we know who we are and it’s so clear to us. As we are involved more in society, we forget that. We all go through that transition where we lose ourselves for a while and then, because of our own pain or discomfort, we find it again and have that freedom. We take off to what our lives are supposed to be.”

Dewberry said it’s a book that both children and adults would enjoy.

“It tells children that even though you’re different, or even though you don’t understand yourself or what your purpose is, you just have to keep on trying and you’ll become what you’re supposed to be,” Dewberry said. “It’s a book that is going to give people hope and make them feel good.”

Anita Elliott, a former teacher of Farris’, said the book brings tears to her eyes every time she reads it.

“It’s just so much about Angela and her journey in life,” said Elliott, who volunteers at Bray Elementary School in Cedar Hill. “The school has adopted the book to read this month. It’s just fantastic to teach others to follow their heart and overcome whatever setbacks they may have in life.”

E-mail silver.hogue@peoplenewspapers.com