2008 Woodie Awards
SU Emeritus writes children's book
Melissa Cisneros
Issue date: 4/27/05 Section: Life
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Pocatello resident and retired ISU Physic Professor Dr. Barry Parker will put you mind at ease with his book "Alien Life: The Search for Extraterrestrials and Beyond." From 1967 to 1997 Professor Parker taught Physics here at ISU where his research area was focused on general relativity, black holes, cosmology,biophysics and the physics of the DNA molecules. Parker retired in 1997 and was honored with the title of "emeritus" and achieved a perfect score of zero sick days- 30 years and not one sick day. Parkers talents extend outside the academic realm, his 20 year relationship with the book world is currently keeping him rather busy. The news is all about his latest book titled "Baby's in the Doghouse."
"This is my second children's book, I wrote one that was designed for 8 to 12 year olds, it was science oriented because it was about the miracle of gravity. This one is a real elementary kid book" said Parker.
In twenty years, Dr. Parker has written twenty books. His subjects include the usually suspects like evolution, gravity, quantum science and astronomy. "Baby's in the Doghouse" has less science, and is about farm animals . The story is about a tiny goat named Baby. Baby lives on a farm with her farm friends a mouse, a mule, a young boy named Zack and other little goat friends.
Parker who lives in Pocatello used the animals from his own farm as the inspiration for the stars of the book. Baby is taught to count by Zack and eventually becomes a hometown celebrity. The book is intended for children between the ages of 6 and 10, or everyone. Dr. Parker is currently giving slide show presentations about the book to local elementary schools. Parker explains how the latest book came about.
"The truth is that I have done twenty books, which other publishers have all published. This is the first one that I have published on my own. Since I wanted to do one on my own and I also wanted to do a kids book I figured, your involving a lot of your money and time and everything...particullary money, I thought that I might as well do a kids book, which is smaller and less expensive" said Parker.