New children's book inspired by loss of friend

One of the hardest things in life is to lose a friend.

When the children of Sleepy Hollow Elementary School returned to class in January a year ago they were saddened to learn that one of their favorite teachers had died on Christmas Eve.

Her name was Kimberly Corcoran; she was only 33 and had taught third grade at Sleepy Hollow for nine years. She had done her student teaching there and had been a longtime substitute teacher.

When a position opened, she was immediately hired because, as School Principal Anastasia Epstein said, "She was too good to let get away."

"She was an amazing individual," Epstein said. "Every time you saw her she was smiling. She had a wonderful sense of leadership and a sense of humor. She had a genuine commitment to helping others. She was generous in everything, and I feel her loss not only as a teacher but as a friend."

One of the people Corcoran was closest to was fellow teacher Laura Crawford. They both taught third grade and for two years, did team teaching.

As friends they had planned to do many things together. They had talked about going into Chicago and going to the museums and seeing the many attractions that the city had to offer.

Unfortunately they never got around to it and one of Laura's biggest regrets was that they had put off doing it.

Laura is now the reading specialist at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School and has a second profession as a published author. Some of her books are "The Pilgrims' Thanksgiving from A to Z" from Pelican Publishing, and "In Arctic Waters" from Sylvan Dell Publishing.

"Kim was so excited and supportive of my writing and my books," Crawford said. "I wish that she was here to see my dreams come true."

One thing nice about being an author is that you can turn something you regret into something positive, and that is what Laura Crawford has done

Several years ago when Crawford was teaching social studies in second grade, she wrote a book called "Postcards from Washington D.C."

When a publisher called and asked if she could do one on Chicago, she said yes. This would be her chance to think about, and write about, the places like Navy Pier, Taste of Chicago and Sears Tower that she and Kimberly had wanted to visit, and she would dedicate this special book to her friend's memory.

At 1 p.m. Sunday, Crawford will have a special book signing at Barnes & Noble at Spring Hill Mall for her new book, "Postcards from Chicago." The date is significant because it would have been Corcoran's birthday. She will be remembered with a smile because the photo that Laura selected for the Lincoln Park Zoo was that of a polar bear, which was her friend's favorite animal. If you love Chicago, it's a great book.

Crawford is currently working on a book about baseball, and is almost finished with a book about the platypus and one about our own local historic figure, Alan Pinkerton.