Shareholder publishes children's book - "The Whippersnapper"

Taggart Neher never imagined his path would lead to him writing a children’s book. Neher was born in Anchorage and after graduating high school, served in the U.S. Marine Corps. A recipient of an Arctic Education Foundation scholarship, Neher interned for ASRC Houston Contracting (HCC) during college and eventually became a field engineer on the North Slope. It was during his time up north, after work was over, that he would spend his free time writing comedy cartoons about life above the Arctic Circle. These comic strips would spread through the work camps and he was encouraged to keep the series going. Years would go by before Neher picked up his pen again to create stories.

Currently residing in Houston, Texas, Neher’s family is the major inspiration for his new children’s book, “The Whippersnapper.” Heavily influenced by his Iñupiat culture of storytelling, the book is about three young sisters who become entranced by their grandfather’s silly stories of a creature called the Whippersnapper. At first, the grandfather’s story seems too unbelievable to be true. What kind of animal has three toes, but no legs? As the story continues, things begin to make the sisters believe it might be a real story.

Neher reflected on his childhood and listening to his Grandma and Grandpa telling stories and using silly sayings to him as a young boy. One silly phrase from the book that his grandparents used to say is Froda Stattle Fiddle Faddle Rind Ding Doo. The catchy jingle gives readers their own sense of nostalgia from childhood stories like Mary Poppins’ Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. The Whippersnapper, however, is a story he came up with one night when his daughters asked him for a funny bedtime story.

“I never dreamed of being an author – it was my mother who really encouraged me to do this,” Neher shares. “But I wrote the story, which took me about a week and a half. We sent it to four different publishers and the very next day, all four of them replied that they wanted to publish my book – which was a wonderful surprise!”

Neher could not have accomplished this without the love and support of his family and friends: his mother Rene Graham, who not only encouraged him to write the book but also provided edits to his early drafts and was with him every step of the way to get it published; his longtime friend and mentor Reed Terry, project engineer for HCC, has been a positive role model in his life for over twenty years; and, of course, his three daughters - Kaitlin, Ella and Sarah - whom the book is dedicated to.

“And finally, I would also like to give all the credit to my faith in God,” Neher says. “Without His guidance, not only for this book, but over all aspects of my life, none of this would have been possible.”

The Whippersnapper is available for purchase online through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple and GooglePlay. Readers can click here: http://www.pagepublishing.com/books/?book=the-whippersnapper for a direct link to purchase online. If you and your family enjoy his first publication, Neher already has another book that he hopes to have out by the end of 2022 – “What’s Green and Eats Stone?”

Taggart Neher is the son of Rene Graham and the late Michael Neher. He is the grandson of Bill Neher and Mildred “Millie” Neher, who is originally from Point Hope. Millie is the daughter of Barbara and Jacob Lane and the granddaughter of Barney Attungana.