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‘Rosie & Friends’ Book and Author Event

Name: ‘Rosie & Friends’ Book and Author Event
Start: 2023-11-18T10:00:00-05:00
End: 2023-11-18T12:00:00-05:00
Location: AACA Museum

Nov 18, 2023 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Kids of all ages are invited to a book and author meet and greet featuring the children’s book Rosie & Friends: Adventures of a Flower Truck and author Jessica Maloy. Jessica will be at “Accessories” gift shop on the museum’s main level from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, November 18th. She will be meeting guests and personally signing copies of her book.

About Rosie

The tale about Rosie is based on the real “Rosie,” a 1953 Ford F100. Jessica said, “Rosie was alone in a New York garage and not driven. We found her for sale online and went to New York to see her.” It was love at first sight. Jessica and her husband Patrick put Rosie on a trailer and brought her to Pennsylvania. Patrick refreshed her with new tires and bumpers. Jessica added, “He also built the flower bed part, and my mom and I made the fabric cover.” We named her Rosie because she’s red (like a rose) and she sells flowers. Rose is also Patrick’s mom’s name.”

Rosie really is magical. She’s not fast and a bit loud, but she brings joy to others, even just passing on the street. The flowers make her extra special. And, of course, her adventures are always intriguing when joined by her friends, cars named Eddie and Dibo. The cars in this story, are named after her father and father-in-law.

About the Author

Jessica Maloy was born in Ohio and moved to Pennsylvania when she was ten years old. She has always loved flowers, animals, and all things DIY (Do It Yourself).

Realizing that she was physically strong, Jessica was encouraged to compete in powerlifting, and with hard work, she became very successful in her competitions. In her four years of competition, she earned 12 world records, six national records and 24 Pennsylvania state records. One of the benefits of the competitions was that she could lead by example, and spread the word, that girls can be strong. She often heard people comment that she was “strong for a girl.” “For a girl” was not necessary….both boys and girls can be strong. Jessica finds it empowering to be a strong female. In her book, she wanted Rosie to be strong and also feminine.

During the summer of 2020, Jessica was inspired by the idea of building “a cute little greenhouse” in her backyard. She loves designing and decorating and her husband, Patrick, is very handy and loves carpentry. They had a lot of fun putting the greenhouse together. That was the start of her business Palmyra Greenhouse. She knew it was meant to be! While she loves growing flowers and designing floral arrangements, her favorite part of the business is delivering flowers to people. Seeing the smiles on people’s faces made her realize that she needed to get more flowers out to more people. A great way to get more flowers to more people was to create “Rosie.” Patrick grew up in a family that loved antique cars and even helped his dad, Eddie, restore a 1964 ½ Ford Mustang when he was in middle school. So it wasn’t difficult to talk him into the flower truck idea, especially using an old Ford truck. That’s what sparked the idea of a children’s book featuring Rosie’s adventures.

Jessica and her husband, Patrick, have one son, Alex. They live in Palmyra, Pennsylvania, and share their home with two dogs and a cat.