Young author pens second Key deer book

Children may be happy to learn a Key deer has saved Christmas and a manatee. Winnie McKee, the miniature deer, may save any number of special Florida Keys species in the future. At least, that’s how the story goes so far.

A year ago, a young woman who became enthralled with Key deer flew in like the bearded man himself to share love and good tidings in the form of more than $1,000 in donations to the Florida Keys Wildlife Society through her book sales. The group are volunteers who support the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges, which includes the National Key Deer Refuge.

Now a senior in high school in Rhode Island, Holly Joy Eddleston is promoting her second book throughout the Keys this holiday season, having appeared at the Light Up Key Largo festival, the Holiday Fest in Islamorada and at two fairs in Key West, including the annual Custom House Holiday Concert & Bazaar.

Eddleston’s first book, “Can a Key Deer Save Christmas?” was published November 2022, when she was 17, and focused on Santa being stranded in the Florida Keys on Christmas Eve because a reindeer lost its magical bell. Without the bell, the reindeer struggled to fly. In an effort to save Christmas, a Key deer named Winnie McKee encounters six native species that are instrumental in her heroic effort to travel throughout the Keys to find the lost bell.

Read more: https://www.keysnews.com/news/local/young-author-pens-second-key-deer-book/article_1395bb3e-99b0-11ee-90d1-7f070377b47f.html