Freda Fry at her Salem Public Library booksigning. Courtesy of Fred Eichelman and Freda Fry

Her name is probably familiar to you — but not as an author.

Freda Fry recently published her first book. She is already known as a singer and songwriter — with several CDs to her credit — and as a foreign-language teacher and Basic Good Person.

“My Sister Slept on My Head” lets the Fry family’s first puppy, “Thumper,” tell its tiny puppyhood story.

“It’s a children’s book, but it is also for anyone who has a heart and loves animals,” wrote Freda via email.

She wrote the book six years ago. Ellen Bowen spent a year working on the dear illustrations. Bron Duncan photographed the book over a one-and-a-half-year period. Debbie Brubaker created the poster.

It even includes a DVD (except with the e-book version). Tom Ohmsen of Flat Five Studios recorded Freda’s reading and provided the music (he has also worked with her singing projects).

The Salem Public Library kindly hosted a book-signing last month. Freda said that the book is selling so well that she has ordered a second printing and is working on a sequel.

“Writing and remembering can sometimes tear at your heart,” she emailed. “Singing is different. It’s like breathing: I can’t live without it.”

The book is available through Flat Five Studios on Main St. or her web site: www.fredafry.com Or track down Freda herself. An e-book will be sold via several sites, including: bookbaby.com, amazon.com, barnes&noble.com and sony.com

Freda said that one of the most exciting things was receiving a Library of Congress / Copyright Office certificate. “So Thumper has a permanent home!” I could sense Freda’s smiling right through her email.

* Smiles are much harder to come by at funerals, of course.

But there were several to be had at Ann Lynch’s service. Folks nodded when First United Methodist Church minister Bobby Pickle called her a masterpiece. We knew of her long marriage to Jim; their nine children; her decades of singing in the FUMC choir and of volunteering with the Red Cross. She was smart, cheery and unflappable (again note: nine children!).

But who knew of her many poems? The family displayed just a few of the charming pieces at the reception. In one she called a child “pixillated” — many years before the word’s popularity. Imagine: Ann wrote another just four days after the birth of her third child (I don’t think I could have recalled my own name after a third).

Here’s to you, Ann Lynch! A masterpiece indeed.

* This will be vivid and cool: The Roanoke Valley Reef display starts this very day (Fri., Jan. 25th) at Roanoke College’s Olin Hall / Smoyer Gallery. It is a “satellite of the worldwide hyperbolic crochet coral reef project.”

Come see what your neighbors’ busy mitts have been up to for over a year.

Lecture, Paul Snelgrove, Fri., Jan. 25, 6 pm, Olin Hall Theater. Reception following, 7-9 pm. Exhibit Jan. 25-March 4. (540) 375-2332. Brendan Bush’s video re the installation is at http://vimeo.com/57245634

p.s. This just in: The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service was changed from this Sat. noon to this Friday noon (Jan. 25th) at Shiloh Baptist, because of a death in the congregation. The effect of snow on that time change is unknown.