By Drew Taylor / Staff Writer
Posted Apr 23, 2019 at 6:00 AM
Too often, when books on Tuscaloosa’s history are written, they tend to lean more on the academic side of things, at least the way Rock Quarry librarian Amelia Pilsch describes it.
However, with a new 53-page book, “Tuscaloosans,” on Tuscaloosa written specifically for children, Pilsch is excited.
“It memorializes important people in our city, and it’s relatable to children,” Pilsch said.
The book, written by Birmingham-Southern College professor emeritus Guy Hubbs, is a truncated version of Hubbs’ book “Tuscaloosa: 200 Years in the Making,” which was a project organized by the Tuscaloosa 200 Bicentennial Commission as one of many offerings leading up to the city’s 200th anniversary.
As part of the release of “Tuscaloosans,” the book was given to every fourth-grade student in Tuscaloosa City Schools, as well as other private schools in the city.
Kari Frederickson, education chair for the bicentennial commission, said the book covers many important people who lived and contributed to the city.
“For a small town, it has an amazingly wide range of characters who have passed through here and have done work here throughout the course of its history,” Frederickson said. “What you get in 53 pages is the span of the history of the city through its most important resource, which is its people.”
Hubbs said that while he is not a children’s book writer, he approached writing “Tuscaloosans” in a way he felt younger children would be entertained and educated on the different aspects of the city.
“What I tried to do is get them in engaged in the people and places that came before and later, as they grow older, they’ll come to see that those people are important for those children,” Hubbs said. “They made the world that those children are growing up to.”
Frederickson said that while the books were done specifically for students, there has been a high demand for them from the public. She said she and the group are deciding how to meet the demand for the books.
The book was underwritten by Nick’s Kids Foundation and former University of Alabama SGA President Price McGiffert Jr. The foundation is the charitable organization founded by Nick Saban, head football coach at the University of Alabama, and his wife, Terry.
Reach Drew Taylor at drew.taylor@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0204.
