Roseville teacher a 'Star' author

Margaret O'Hair has done quite a bit with her 19 years of teaching, but she considers herself a lifelong writer.A lover of literature from an early age, who as a young girl rode the bus to the library and returned with sacks of books, O'Hair has turned her passion for books into an exciting side project of writing and reviewing. A first grade teacher at Roseville's Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, O'Hair is basking in the glow of the recent publication of her second children's book, "Star Baby."The book, a pre-school poetic story of a mother and child's typical day at home, has already garnered reviews calling it "a sweet read to share one-on-one" and an "utterly winning baby-rocking ditty.""I've gotten 172 e-mails from writers around the country who I didn't even know knew me," O'Hair said last week. O'Hair, who lives in Rocklin with husband Mark (a vice principal at Woodcreek High), their two children and two dogs, described "Star Baby" as "basically a poem - It's a rhyming book."The book sold three years ago - "It takes time to write them, but it takes a lot of time to sell them," she said - and was created after the publication of her first children's book, "Twin to Twin," which was published in 2003 and is about to go into its third printing cycle."I had more ideas after I got done with 'Twin to Twin,' so I kept going," she said. "I was just still in the genre. I really like working with rhyme and I love little kids.""Star Baby" should appeal to a wide variety of readers, O'Hair said."The first book is about twins, but it's a niche market, but everybody has a baby," she said. "It's basically about the day of a baby. I think it shows the sentiment of a family having a baby. It's very sing-songy."O'Hair read her new book to Thomas Jefferson's reading club at a lunchtime meeting last week and got rave reviews from the students."It was kind of cool because we have a teacher at our school and some of her books are in the library," said fifth-grader Devon Eaton, adding that she and younger sister Jordan, who had O'Hair as a teacher last year, have checked O'Hair's books out and read them together."It was pretty cool," fourth-grader Bryant Peterson said of "Star Baby." "She's a pretty cool teacher, a pretty cool author. I've read her books and I like them a lot. I like that they're pretty funny."As if teaching and writing doesn't keep O'Hair busy enough, she also reads new children's books and reviews them for various publications.And she's got other projects in various stages of development, including "Star Puppy, a four-legged take on "Star Baby," and "Catcher for Life," a middle-aged children's book modeled after her son lost his memory following a concussion that she hopes to sell "really soon.""This is a full-time job, and I'm a mom and we're active, so it takes everything just to write them," she said.Adding to the excitement surrounding the release of "Star Baby" is an upcoming book-signing event, set for Dec. 5 at Roseville's Barnes & Noble.O'Hair said both her published books are special because they indirectly address her children's upbringing."I think of my two books as my scrapbooks for my kids," she said of Sam, 14, and Stephanie, 13, who were born 13 months apart, making them "Irish twins," which ties to "Twin to Twin." "I look at 'Star Baby' and it's my feelings about loving my own babies." O'Hair said she hopes to put her love of books to good use with future projects."When you have years and years of reading behind you, it makes it so much easier to appreciate a book," she said.For more information, visit www.thereadingmom.com. - Loryll Nicolaisen can be reached at lorylln@goldcountrymedia.com.