Patsy Baldus has spent most of her life in Midcoast Maine and will be speaking at Stockton Springs Community Library on April 25, at 10 a.m. Her love for gardening and cultivating teddy bear sunflowers inspired her latest picture book, Sunny Bear and the Secrets of Sunflowers. 

For thirty-three years, she shared her passion for writing through humor and storytelling with her students from kindergarten through sixth grade.

"Her enthusiasm for life still shines through her weekly age-defying dance classes," said Beckie Weinheimer, in a news release. 

There’s a new bear in town—or should we say in the garden? “Sunny Bear” has come out of hiding in the sunflower garden to share his secrets with kids about the benefits and uses of growing sunflowers.

"Enchanting rhymes, challenging vocabulary, and reinforcing activities at the back of the book stretch kids’ thinking and imaginations!" said Weinheimer.