Contributor
Greta Gafin, Belmont Voice correspondent
Longtime Belmont resident Marlene Fereshetian and her sister, Sossi Manoukian, had long dreamed of writing a book together.
“We had talked about it for many years,” said Fereshetian.
Starting in 2020, as the world shut down because of COVID, the sisters began meeting over FaceTime, drawing on their childhoods for inspiration to write their first book for children.
“It was the best time to do this because nearly everything else stopped,” said Manoukian, who lives in Montreal.
Through virtual meetings, they co-wrote the book while living hundreds of miles apart.
The result, “The Beasley Street Bandits,” is about a group of children living in a diverse urban community in the 1970s. The children, led by Sofia Rodriguez, 9, decide to start a band. They want to perform for their neighborhood, but their efforts are slowed by a local landlord, concerned about his property values.
Fereshetian and Manoukian were born in Israel to Armenian parents. They grew up in a diverse community in Montréal, Quebec, surrounded by immigrants. They wanted to write a book based on their positive childhood experiences, though “The Beasley Street Bandits” is not set specifically in Montreal.
Manoukian and Fereshetian also wanted to write a story about children in a time before the internet – when kids spent more time playing outside and their neighbors looked out for them.
“We wanted to stress community,” said Fereshetian.
“A sense of belonging … it’s so important to have that feeling you belong somewhere,” added Manoukian.
The story also touches on themes of forgiveness and overcoming mistakes. The sisters hope it will serve as a historical teaching tool.
“We wrote this to teach kids about that time,” said Manoukian, referring to the 1970s.
They wanted to give young readers a sense of the pre-cell phone, pre-tablet world — an aspect of the story they hope parents and guardians also enjoy.
The writers hired 2020 Belmont High graduate Nina White to illustrate the book and self-published it through Barnes and Noble in the United States and on Shopify in Canada.
“We were eager to share,” said Fereshetian, knowing that trying to publish it through traditional means would take significantly longer.
They are hoping to get the book into more bookstores with dreams of one day turning it into a musical production.
Fereshetian has lived in Belmont for 31 years with her husband and two children. She has volunteered for Belmont Access TV and Belmont Dramatic Arts, and has run a children’s arts nonprofit. Helping children overcome difficulties and express themselves through art has long been important to her.
People interested in purchasing a copy of the book can find it on the Barnes and Noble website.
