Northville Woman Writes Anti-Bullying Adventure Book

Lori Costew, of Northville, said her adventure book for tweens and early teens called "Sherpa's Adventure: Saving the Future" almost wrote itself.

Costew said she wondered how to give her children, who are in second and fourth grades at Northville schools, tools and ways to cope.

"The bullying won't stop per se, but we can teach kids how to react to it," she said.

The anti-bullying message is something she feels strongly about, which is what pushed her to self-publish. The process took her three years while she juggled being a full-time mom and holding a full-time job in organization development at Ford Motor Company.

"This is my passion and I just want the message out," she said.

She is selling and signing books at Next Chapter Bookstore & Bistro from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday. 

This is Costew's first fiction novel and it's thick, more than 200 pages, but she kept the prices low -- $7 for the paperback and $2.99 on Kindle. She also donated about 40 copies of her book to Northville schools and some to the Northville District Library.

"Sherpa's Adventure" is set in the year 2310 when the main character, Sherpa, is 16 years old. The book includes time travel and Sherpa must fight against an evil dictator intent on destroying world peace. Sherpa meets historical figures during her time travel including Amelia Earhart and Neil Armstrong. Customers gave it a five star rating on Amazon.com. Read the reviews here.

"The messages are woven in and that makes it powerful," Costew said.

"Sherpa's Adventure" fans range from 8 to 15. The younger readers think it's a cool story with time travel and flying cars, while the older readers pull from the underlying messages, she said. She said she hopes it helps children successfully navigate the mine fields of growing up.

Her children, an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old, have been her inspiration, she said. She said her son came home from school one day and said, "My feelings got smashed into a million pieces!"

Costew thought that was authentic and real so she incorporated it into her book.

Fans of "Sherpa's Adventure" can look forward to a sequel in the fall. 

"As the characters began to get more developed and became more rich, I realized there was more to tell. Sherpa and her friends are going to continue the adventure," she said.

To find out more about Costew's book, visit the "Sherpa's Adventure" Facebook page.