PERU — Mary “Peggy” Fenstermacher of Peru will soon have her second children’s book, “Pablo Visits the Ocean,” published.

Fenstermacher’s book, illustrated by Sandra Leinonen Dunn of Chelsea, is about Pablo, an adventurous Blackfoot penguin whose curiosity leads him to places often not suited for penguins.

In “Pablo Visits the Ocean,” Fenstermacher has him visiting a lighthouse on an island off the coast of Maine. On this new adventure Pablo explores his new environment and makes new friends who inhabit the island and the surrounding sea.

“I felt Pablo needed to visit Maine,” Fenstermacher said from her home. “So I have him visiting a fictitious island. Lighthouse Island, and a lighthouse.

“The book has been sent off to the publisher,” she said. “All that’s left is scanning some 18 illustrations from the book. I hope to have the book out by Christmas.”

Fenstermacher’s first book, “Pablo Visits the Desert,” was published in October 2010. It was illustrated by Sandra Liononen Dunn and was an award finalist in the “USA Book News” Best Books Award.

“I wrote that book while I was taking a creative writing workshop, an online course, taught by professor Jerrod NeCastro at the University College at Rumford-Mexico,” Fenstermacher said.

“He was a very good instructor. He taught in a way to get the best out of us. He was very personable and he was very good about bringing us back when we got off target.

“We, the women who took the creative writing course, called ourselves, ‘The Women of Literacy,'” she said.

Fenstermacher, a graduate of Kutztown State College in Kutztown, Pa., took several more courses at the Rumford/Mexico campus, including four special education courses.

Since graduation from college, she taught elementary school for 20 years, mostly in Title 1 Literacy, special education and elementary classroom music, in Pennsylvania and Maine. She has taught in several River Valley schools, including Dixfield Elementary School, Canton Elementary School, Bethel’s Crescent Park Elementary School, Peru Elementary School and Andover Elementary School.

These days gives piano lessons to area youth, plays the organ at Dixfield Congregational Church and writes.

“We’re about to take our youngest, of four, child to begin her freshman year at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C.,” she said. “The trip has special significance for us, because that’s where my husband (Todd) and I first met.”

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