Drippey is a very industrious bee – a humanoid bee — who lives on a planet called Honeymoon, plants a garden of flowers and fruits, and devises the Super Watering Can 2000 to power their growth and feed all his friends.
He’s also the brainchild of a 7-year-old Oliver Popa, whose teacher was so impressed with the story of Drippey (written for a class assignment) that she made an improbable suggestion.
“When we got our writing assignment about gardening, everyone wrote about real stuff,” Oliver said. “But I wrote a story about Drippey [and] Mrs. Ness thought it was so good she used it as an example for the class, and she sent a note home with it that said I should turn it into a book.”
By Mrs. Ness, Oliver means Joy Ness, a first-grade teacher at King’s Elementary School.
“When I first read Oliver’s story, I was really impressed,” she said. “It’s a whimsical story of [a] bee and his garden. His factual ideas of planting a garden, yet fictional character choice of a bee, really intrigued me.”
The teacher didn’t know that Oliver’s mom, Whitney Popa, had recently launched a small publishing company — Our West Press. And while Whitney hadn’t considered publishing a children’s book, let alone her son’s, she had to agree with the teacher. The story, now titled “Drippey Plants A Garden,” was that good.
“I did not expect to publish Oliver,” Whitney said. “His teacher didn’t know I was dabbling in [the publishing] world, so I figured it was a sign and asked him if he wanted to go all in on the story. He did.”
Oliver spent last summer working on his story with his mom. They went through many drafts and turned to family members for feedback.
“One of the things Oliver and I talked a lot about when he was writing the story is how my grandfather has a huge garden and likes to share his produce with the whole small town he lives in,” said Whitney. “We thought, what if Drippey is like Papa, but instead of sharing with the town, he shares with the whole planet?”
(Image: From ‘Drippey Plants a Garden,’ written by Olive Popa and Illustrated by Elizabeth Sung)
“Gardening can be singular,” she added, “but we believe it’s about so much more. We wanted to celebrate how one person really can make a big impact through friendship, sharing, community, and fun.”
Once the story felt complete, Whitney and Oliver began the search for an illustrator and landed on Elizabeth Sung.
“I put a call out on Threads,” said Whitney. “I saved portfolios of the illustrators who matched the style we were going for and presented them to Oliver. He made the final decision. To my knowledge, this is the first children’s book she’s illustrated.”
Whitney says Oliver is a big reader. “I have been reading with him his whole life, but even at seven, he’ll spend hours reading on his own. He likes to draw comics now, too, but before he started reading, I wouldn’t have called him a storyteller. The stories are mostly inside him, so we really celebrate when he shares them with us.”
It took a lot of work, but “Drippey Plants A Garden“ flew onto Amazon’s bookshelf last month. It can also be found or requested at any bookstore. The book is recommended for young readers ages 5 to 11.
While Oliver did all the hard work, he didn’t let the opportunity pass to acknowledge the one who inspired the book idea. He dedicated his first book to his first-grade teacher, Mrs. Ness.
