Slidellian has book published, ‘Twins’ Night Before Christmas’
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – There is probably nothing more beloved at the holidays than for parents to read “The Night Before Christmas” to their children.
Cynthia Panks is quick to raise her hand and agree, noting “Christmas has always been special to me, and especially when we had two daughters, and even more so after my girls both had twin girls.”
Panks, a lifelong Slidellian who has been married to well-known former Slidell High football coach Jeff Panks for 54 years, is a grandmother to twins. But actually, she is in a very rare club in that she is grandmother to not just one set of twins, but two.
And the rarity becomes even more pronounced when you understand that she and her husband had two children, both daughters, and then both of their girls had sets of twin girls.
“I think God picked me to be the grandmother for two sets of twins,” Panks said. “I was always so close to my daughters, but now with the twins? I can’t imagine anything that could be more special for us.”
But there was still one more chapter in the story for Panks and all those girls, and those twins.
Panks spent 20 years as a St. Tammany para-professional for learning disabled, as well as working as an assistant librarian at Boyet Junior High. She always had a love for writing, but never got super serious in her efforts until after she retired in 1996. That’s when she also began to try different spins off the “Night Before Christmas” theme.
None of them caught the eye of national publishers until now, after she wrote a very unique take on “The Night Before Christmas” that is geared towards parents of twins. She has two books recently published by Storybook Genius Publishing called “Twins’ Night Before Christmas,” that highlight the importance of individual identity in twins. The books come in a version for twin boys and a version for twin girls.
Panks said she had submitted “somewhere around 20 children’s books” to various publishers over the years and received nothing but rejection letters. Five or six of them had themes related to “The Night Before Christmas.”
But then she came up with the idea of “Twins’ Night Before Christmas,” clearly motivated by personal experiences with her own granddaughters. She sent it to Storybook in late 2019 and said she almost forgot about it until being contacted in November, 2020. After an interview with the publisher and some revisions, the company accepted the books and now has them available at Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble and on Amazon.
Panks will do her first book signing at Barnes and Noble in Mandeville on Sunday, Dec. 12 from noon to 2 p.m.
Panks said she always did well in English and enjoyed writing, handling press releases and other notices at Boyet Junior High where she worked. Eventually moving to the library, she remembers the joy in reading “The Night Before Christmas” to kids during the holidays.
“Being in the library I was always connected to children’s books. I remember thinking ‘I can write books like that’ so I was always writing here and there. But after I retired I really began to take my writing seriously, and had time to work more on it when I had to help my daughter after she had the first set of twins. I spent two years helping with the twins, and it gave me more time to write.”
Their oldest daughter, Kim, had identical twins in 1997, but there were health issues after they were born 10-weeks premature, so naturally Mom/Mimi was there to help.
Their second daughter, Allison, had her twins in 2004, and ironically, neither of the girls ever had any more children.
But as Panks kept trying new story ideas, she eventually saw the angle with the two sets of twins her daughters had blessed her with. It turned out to be the winning theme for her first book.
“In our family we understand what a challenge it is to raise twins, especially to raise them in a way that they have their own individuality,” she explained. “That’s what gave me the idea for the book.”
In “Twins’ Night Before Christmas,” the twin children in both books try to trick Santa to see if he really knows them apart. The story prompts conversations between parents and children about individual personalities and identities.
“Imagine if you had a brother or sister who looked exactly like you,” Panks said. “You would want to be seen just for who you are. That’s what the book tries to emphasize.”
Panks self-published a book many years previously called “Eulahlie Enchanted,” which was inspired by her own personal loss from Hurricane Katrina. When she and Jeff came back to town after evacuating, their south Slidell home had taken 6-feet of water. Panks always had a tradition in her home during the holidays called “Mimi’s Treasure Box,” but the storm had left thick mud everywhere and most everything they had was destroyed.
“When we opened our door and saw the mess,” Panks said, starting to cry. “It was so devastating.”
She used that loss in Eulahlie Enchanted to highlight the importance of family heritage, reminding others that “things can be replaced.”
Interestingly enough in that book, due to her childhood years when her family saw Mr. Bingle at Dillard’s most holidays, she used Mr. Bingle in her book, but only after getting approval from Dillard’s to do so.
Panks, now 73, said the first real published book by a national company has her motivated to get back to work.
“There were times with all the rejections I thought I wouldn’t submit anything again. But as soon as I started writing something new I would get excited and keep trying,” she said. “Just thinking about my new book, and that I’m going to do a book signing—well, it’s hard not to be very excited.”
The newly-published books have also made her the newest online Social Media celebrity. She already has over 7,500 Instagram followers, “mostly twin families,” she said.