“Fourth Street” by Florida A&M alumna Anastasia Means-Dallas is a children’s book that reveals her cherished relationship with her grandfather, Forest “Daddy” Bowman.
After her parents separate her mother, sister and her left Connecticut and moves in with her Grandparents in Quincy, Florida. There she learned life lesson from her grandfather. Renita Bowman, Means-Dallas aunt said her father was a “great pillar to the community.”
Daddy Bowman owned a shoe repair shop, which is an essential location for Means-Dallas and for the book because it is where she learns to appreciates his workmanship. Means-Dallas says,”just from watching him through his business he showed me you can do anything as long as you maintain professional through the way you dress and have good customer services.”
“[She] captures the community and neighbor in Fourth Street” says Renita Bowman. Means-Dallas depicts her life with Daddy Bowman from working in his shop to him picking her up from school, until his death. He dies in 1981 when she was eight year old. “My mom picked me up from school, so I knew something was wrong.” Mean-Dallas deals with the topic of death in the children book, and shows them how to understand how to cope with the pasting of a love one. She says “I wanted this book to help kids appreciate their elders.”
Means-Dallas is a teacher in the Greater Atlanta, Georgia area. With the inspiration from her grandfather she is not only a author releasing her second book but also a business owner, and gospel singer/songwriter. With Reaping The Kingdom, LLC she says she “get with people with talents and help those talents become reality.” She also is finishing her first album “Master Plan.”
Means-Dallas will be having a book signing on July 12, 2012 at Quincy Public Library from 3-6, and coming to Tallahassee the next day. The book can be found wherever books are sold and on Amazon.com and on the Nook. She suggests that Fourth Street be use in classroom. Teachers should read it to the class if they are younger than the 3rd grade. “I did not add a questions section to the book, but I purposely used figurative language and higher vocabulary,” says Means-Dallas during the over the phone interview.
She hopes to create a Fourth Street series of children book, then release a Audio version as a read along and eventually transform it a cartoon.