The Danczyk family invites people to share in their beautiful farm-life experience. 

Stevens Point author Ken Danczyk has written "Grandpa's Farm" with the help of son Nick's favorite memories and wife Judy's constant encouragement.

It features both actual photographs of the farm, upon which the text is superimposed, and the 16 bright oil painting depictions of the scene opposite the words.  What no one could guess is that this book is also a love story in disguise.

The farm is real and still located just north of Stevens Point.  the dog Sheppy will still greet you with territorial barking.  Instead of  38 cows Daisey and Dolly are left, and the fields that grew corn, oats and hay are mostly rented out to others to farm.  But the pride and love of this multi-generational farm family still envelopes you even though Grandpa and Grandma are no longer alive.

That would be Max Danczyk and Eleanor Shulfer, whose own love story began long before they were married.  Max's family came from Poland and had the choice of settling in Arnott near Stevens Point.  They chose the latter, as did Eleanor's family, who settled at the end of the lane opposite from the Danczyk family.

"They knew each other and grew up as friends, " Ken said."Theyn they fell in love, married and lived on the 40 acres in the middle of where they both grew up.  They had nine children."

Ken was one of those children, and the desire to continue the strong family ties led him to build his house right next door after marrying Judy.  Soon Nick was born, the only son of Ken and Judy.  He basked in the attention of an extended family who thoroughly enjoyed one another.

The warmth portrayed in the book is real, too.

"I remember the laughter," said Judy about her introduction to the family. 
"Grandma was a fantastic cook, and all on a wood stove!  They raised chickens, and whatever was left over would go into soup, with homemade Kluski dumplings, rather than noodles.  There was always food in the fridge, and always room for one more."

Nick recalls that even those who were reluctant to join in would be cornered by Grandpa.  "He'd sit out in the front of the house and flag down anybody going by... neighbors, delivery men.  'Come on in,' he'd say."

The memories that inspired the book are told from Nick's point of view, from when he was about 6 years old.  One of those stories still gets the whole family chuckling and will be a favorite of children reading the book, too.

"The story would go something like this," Nick said,  "Grandpa would say,  'Do you know where any matches are?'  I'd say "Grandpa - I'm 6!"  "Go get me an old milk can, then.' He'd put a lit firecracker in the milk can, whick we had put on the other side of the house from where Grandma was.  Pow-bang! Grandpa would be laughing and wiggling with delight, Grandma would be yelling things in Polish from the inside.  after 5 minutes, we'd do it again.  And after 15 minutes, we'd switch sides of the house."  This happened about once a week.

There are too many of these stories for just one book.  Depending on how the first one sells, the family intends to write at least two more children's books based on the farm.  Each one would be tailored to consecutively older children.  Response so far has been unbelievable, all three agreed.  It has been hard to keep the book in stock.

"I've had people call and cry often, reading the book," Judy said. "It just hits them."

The whole project has been a family endeavor.  Ken as the author is the most soft-spoken of the group, and admits that the two- year process at times has been frustrating.  After many suggestions and re-writes it was Ken who knew when it was just right.

The family chose Lulu Publishing (www.lulu.com) and is found under Childrens Books on that site and listed as #3.  The book is also available through Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com or by contacting the Danczyk's at google - www.danczyk.com