Joan Minnery has come to be known as a talented multi-faceted entertainer as well as vocal coach, line dance instructor, music facilitator and author.
However, two years ago, Minnery, who is based in Brantford, got the idea of writing a children’s book from a tree in her backyard, which became the genesis of ‘The Adventures of Timothy the Tree.’
“A couple years ago I was sunbathing in my backyard which I didn’t really do before. Our neighbors have this most majestic tree, and I had never really paid much attention to it before that day despite being born in and living in the same house close to that tree…I started thinking about all the things that this tree and the other trees around us have seen, especially in our yard, because we’re the ones that had the kids [and having so much] activity, especially when we used to have all the Elvis parties with all the Elvis impersonators in the backyard,” she said. “And I started thinking that these trees would have some tales to tell…as they have witnessed breakups, marriages, kids growing up, people moving in and out. They’ve seen some hardships…and I wondered what they would see if they could talk?”
Minnery then brought up the idea with her friends at the coffee shop after that.
“I was at Tim Hortons with my friends from line dancing, and I was telling them about this concept that I had. Jaime Giles, who would go on to illustrate the book, told me that it would be a great idea for a children’s book. I explained it would be told from the tree’s perspective [as] he would be telling the story of this little boy named Billy, which is based on my son [and] is all grown up now. The story would be about the love between the kid and the tree, as Timothy would watch his friend grow up. He was very loyal to Billy too,” she noted. “Another aspect I wanted to explore was that my son wanted a dog his whole life. Unfortunately, he never got one because his grandmother, who has since passed, was not a dog person. In the book, Billy has a dog. My son was very good friends with Benny deRosse, who died tragically in a car accident in 2012…and when I was developing the story, I named the dog after Benny, which was a dedication to him. The book is also dedicated to his memory.”
However, Minnery has utilized her creativity to embark on this project; being involved in music for many years.
“I’ve always done music my whole life. I’ve always been a singer, a dancer, and an actress. And my whole family is in the performing arts as well. We all have either dabbled in performing or writing music. And I started teaching music in 2002 and taught dance too. I’ve always performed too, and back in the late 1990s and early 2000s I started the Brantford Elvis Festival. And I had been in an Elvis Tribute group called Memphis Motion for 13 years,” she said. “Recently, I started doing musical instruction…[and] I have a band with my son called Si V le, which is Elvis spelt backwards. I am really dedicated to the band [and] our line dancing group have been performing and we are looking forward to doing some shows down in the United States where we are competing this coming November.”.
Along with her singing, Minnery continues to teach in various capacities.
“Back around 2011, my life took a whole different turn, and I started teaching line dancing again, and now line dancing has just blown up all over the world when people were looking for things to do online during the pandemic,” she noted. “Also, during this time, I went back to school. I attended Wilfrid Laurier University and earned my Master of Arts, majoring in Community Music. I then applied to both the school boards here, getting hired as a supply teacher, and then I started doing a couple of guest lectures at Laurie. I was also approached by the Grand River Community Health Centre about coming on as their performing arts facilitator, which I jumped at the chance to do.”
Nevertheless, the book is also reflective of Minnery’s strength in collaboration, as Jaime Giles, provided another element to the book with her illustrations.
“I asked her if she could draw me a couple of cartoons of Billy with the tree. Her initial drawings were stick figures and pencil drawings. And then she just started really delving into her creative side…adding some color, then using pencil crayons, and regular crayons. And what we have now is a metamorphosis of her artwork, which has been amazing to see. She’s really developing into a credible Illustrator and I’m very honored to have her do the illustrations for the series of the books we have planned,” she said.
‘The Adventures of Timothy the Tree’, which will be released in late June 2025 via Amazon, will also be expanded to a series of up to ten books.
“We’re going to do between eight and ten books. But the first one will just be about Billy, Benny the dog, and Timothy the tree. I am looking at bringing in more of my son’s friends from his high school days into future books as well as perhaps bringing his mom into the story too! This book and future books will mention Brantford, Paris and Brant County and Paris…which many people that we know will like…but it will take place in the backyard, based on the memories of the tree…overall, it’s a very heartwarming story and I am really excited to share it with readers,” Minnery concluded.
