GASTONIA – While Charlotte-area spelunkers can travel to the N.C. mountains to explore caverns, those wanting some underground adventure closer to home can head over The Schiele Museum. 

CAVES, the museum’s newest exhibit, which opened June 18 and will remain until Dec. 31, takes visitors deep into a series of winding, subterranean caves where they will come face-to-face with bats, rattlesnakes and a feisty pair of baby bobcats. 

According to project manager Tony Pasour, museum staff recycled wood and other materials from its last featured exhibit, Pirates, to create the 260-foot cavern. The crew spent six months creating the rippled cave walls using spray foam insulation–. 

“When you go into a cave, there are so many crevices and twists and turns,” Pasour said. “That’s what makes so many people uneasy about going into caves. It’s a very claustrophobic feeling.” 

The museum began featuring its own exhibits in 1998 when it developed “Journey Into the Piedmont Past.” The museum saves money by developing temporary exhibits instead of renting traveling exhibits for as much as $100,000, Pasour said. The CAVES exhibit cost the museum about $45,000 to build. 

“We can decide what we want to do and what we want to build. We can build the content to fit our space,” Pasour said.

The cave is filled with at least 28 types of rocks and minerals and more than 40 live animals, including bats, trout, a screech owl, raccoon, snakes and bobcats. 

The male and female bobcats, about 8 weeks old when the exhibit opened in June, have become a highlight for museum visitors and staff alike. 

“We got them a couple weeks ago, and everyone here instantly fell in love,” Schiele marketing coordinator Amy Ballard said. “They will be here until December, so people who come to the museum regularly will get to see them grow up.”

In addition to the exhibit, The Schiele has planned many CAVE extras like special spelunker cave tours, cave movie Mondays, Bat Day on Aug. 6, and other camps and workshops. 

The Schiele Museum, located at 1500 E. Garrison Blvd, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Members are admitted free, and general admission for non-city residents is $7 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. Visit www.schiele
museum.org for more information or call the museum at 704-866-6908.  q

Nutter

A Mount Holly resident’s memories of potty training her three daughters is being published in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: New Moms.”

Marilyn Nutter wrote the story about a year ago, after reading her daughter Susan Pacella’s Facebook posts chronicling her attempts to potty train her son. Pacella’s stories reminded Nutter of potty training her three daughters and the mixed emotions she felt when they had finally reached that milestone. Nutter’s story, “Mixed Feelings,” will be published in the inspirational book, “Chicken Soup for the Soul: New Moms,” which hits bookstores March 8.

“Motherhood is a time when we want to develop independence, but we don’t really like it,” Nutter said. “As far as a mother is concerned, it is a very difficult time in life.”

Pacella is glad her mother had the foresight to record her Facebook posts and turn them into a story, she said.

“Those status updates … now remind me how tough I thought it was in the thick of it,” Pacella said. “But how quickly it passed, and we’re on the other side. (Now), I’m desperately pumping the brakes of time, begging for a few more moments.”

Nutter is a freelance writer and speaker, and primarily writes devotionals and Christian living articles. She has authored three devotional books and made contributions to the books, “Chicken Soup for the Mothers of Preschooler’s Soul: Stories to Refresh the Soul and Rekindle the Spirit of Moms of Little Ones” and “The Ultimate Mom.”

Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC, publishes the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. Books in the series have sold more than 112 million copies.

Nutter is available to speak at women’s events, teas and other church and community groups. Visit her website at www.marilynnutter.com, or her blog at http://grandmothersviews.blogspot.com.

Contact her at marilynnutter@gmail.com.

by Alison Woo

As the film season peaks this weekend with Hollywood preparing for this year’s Academy Awards, the celebration of film is just heating up in the Queen City.

The Charlotte Jewish Film Festival is getting ready to debut its seventh season of sharing cinematic experiences March 3 to 13.

“Our goal is to reach the broadest base audience,” said Jeff Turk, the festival’s marketing director. “The movies in the festival are all entertaining, smart and enlightening. No matter what you see, people who come to the films will feel better after having seen them.”

While the festival’s mission is to “illuminate the global Jewish experience through experiences that are both entertaining and enlightening,” Turk said this year’s nine films were picked expressly with a general audience in mind.

“The reason why this festival is important is because we, as a community, can sometimes be compartmentalized and forget how much alike we are and that there is a universal human experience,” he said.

Making the cut

The process of culling the films started last summer and continued through November. Debbie Block, the festival’s chairperson, makes the first round of selections.

“She likes to joke that, in the beginning it was about scouring the racks at Blockbuster,” he said. “But now she goes to conferences for independent films and talks to distributors and producers to help create the pool of possibilities. We’re also at the mercy of the films that are ­available.”

The committee from the Levine Jewish Community Center, the festival’s host, screened 20 films to whittle the slate to nine using specific criteria. “We wanted films that would appeal to a broad audience and sensibilities,” Turk said. “Another one of the goals was that the films were meaningful and that we could give exposures to great films that wouldn’t normally be shown in Charlotte.”

The range of movies includes “The Matchmaker,” a coming-of-age story about finding love, which was nominated for seven Israeli Academy Awards; a highly anticipated documentary “Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story” featuring reclusive player Sandy Koufax; and “Breaking Upwards,” chosen by The Light Factory, and described as 20-something Jewish Manhattanites in a Woody Allen-esque comedy.

The film festival also offers a nod to local talent. Short film “Bagels and Lox” was directed by Myers Park High School graduate Gabriel Kaunitz, who is currently a freshman at Savannah College of Art and Design. Jordan Imbrey, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, directed “Airborne: The Secret of Identity,” another short comedy in the festival.

Each year the festival makes sure to have a selection that spotlights interfaith work. This year’s choice, “Circus Kids,” is a documentary about a circus troupe from St. Louis going to work with Israeli and Arab children in a traveling circus in the Middle East.

The troupe, known as the St. Louis Arches, will perform live after the March 8 showing of the film.

The emphasis this year is to have additional speakers bring the experience to life more than watching film on the screen. Opening night offers a free event to the public with the showing of “An Article of Hope,” celebrating Israel’s first astronaut who was on Space Shuttle Columbia. A representative of NASA will speak following the film to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the space agency.

Looking forward

Charlotte is the latest city hosting Jewish Film Festivals, joining New York City, Boston, Palm Beach, Phoenix and Atlanta. Although local festival leaders chose the films independently, they are proud that their selections ranked among the best. “Jews and Baseball” opened in Atlanta and sold out the 3,000 seats at the Fox Theater; in Phoenix, organizers quickly scheduled a second screening after the show sold out, he said.

There are four main venues for showings, including the Jewish Community Center and Ballantyne Village Theater. Prices for each event range from free to $20, with proceeds supporting the festival. A series pass is also available for $64 for nine films.

As the festival looks ahead to the future, organizers are proud they’ve incorporated public feedback to make the festival grow each year. Even this year’s poster was designed to reflect the upbeat vibe offered at the event. “Whatever film you see, it’s a great movie-going experience” Turk said.

For a complete schedule or to purchase tickets, visit www.charlottejewishfilm.com or www.carolinatix.org, or call 704-372-1000.

by Alison Woo

Good things are said to come in threes. This season, three distinctive interpretative dance shows are heading to the Queen City to dazzle and delight audiences.

“Momix” celebrates the botanical world

“Momix: Botanica,” at the Knight Theater from Feb. 22 to 27, has been described as the “Museum of Natural History brought to life.” This Connecticut-based dance troupe has traveled the globe for more than 30 years bringing its unique vision to the masses. In Botanica, they tapped world-famous designers such as Michael Curry, most famous for creating the puppets from “The Lion King,” to bring the natural world alight. You’ll see breathtaking landscapes, props and puppets all supported by an ethereal score that includes classics such as Vivaldi and beautiful bird song.

For more information, visit www.blumenthalcenter.org/.

Lion King choreographer celebrates 40th anniversary

Garth Fagan, multiple Tony and Bessie-award winning choreographer best known for his extraordinary work on “The Lion King,” comes to the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center March 31 to April 3 to celebrate his legendary dance troupe’s 40th anniversary.

Fagan describes modern dance as “contemporary energies meets contemporary movement.” While the esteemed dancer has worked in every style of dance, he says he loves modern dance because it spotlights “men who are not afraid to be vulnerable and strong and women who are strong and feminine all at the same time. This is everything we would hope all our children will become.”

Fagan’s dance group is an eclectic cultural blend encompassing all races and ethnicities. Some of the pieces audiences can expect to see include “Mudan,” a celebration of a rare and exotic peony tree from China, as well as “Dance Collage for Romy,” an homage to the work of prolific North Carolina artist Romare Bearden. The show ends with a “Fete Joy” inspired by the music and dance of Fagan’s hometown of Jamaica and the extraordinary rhythms of New Orleans.

Fagan says his celebratiob of women is inspired by the loss of his 2-year-old daughter, as well as his 3-year-old grandchild. It fuels his vision for dance and to celebrate both the frailties and the strength of the human spirit. “We open the program with ‘Prelude,’ a perennial favorite just to show that this is a modern dance concert,” he said. “But the cake is the wonderful human being that you see before you and I’m proud of my dancers and the women are strong and jump and turn. And unlike other dance disciplines, they are contemporary women like you who have jobs and can still be lovable and feminine. They’re not waiting for someone to rescue them.”

With movies like “Black Swan” focusing on the dysfunction that can happen within a dance group, Fagan says he lives his life and focuses his art on the uplifting message left from his mentor, best-selling author Alex Hailey. “He said, ‘You have to find the good and praise it,’ and that’s been my philosophy,” he said. “My concert has lots of positives and in the pieces, it may have a difficult moment just like life, but it’s about overcoming adversity and celebrating life that matters.”

For more information, visit www.blumenthalcenter.org.

Cirque du Soleil takes flight

Cirque du Soleil’s “Totem” makes its first U.S. stop debuting at Charlotte Motor Speedway March 3 to 20. While Botanica celebrates the earthbound, Totem is not so rooted.

The entire expanse of Charlotte Motor Speedway will be taken up with the visual spectacle that Soleil is known for, including dancers using bars, hoops, unicycles and bowls and soaring over the stage on roller skates or flying though the air on trapezes.

Robert LaPage, Totem’s writer and director, says the show was created to celebrate life in all its forms.  This is his second Cirque du Soleil show following “KÀ” in 2004. “Inspired by the foundation narratives of the first peoples, Totem explores the birth and evolution of the world, the relentless curiosity of human beings and their constant desire to excel,” he said. “The word ‘Totem’ suggests that human beings carry in their bodies the full potential of all living species, even the Thunderbird’s desire to fly to the top of the totem.
For more information, visit cirquedusoleil.com/totem.

Mount Holly resident and veteran performer Steven Jepson will star in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” this weekend at Central Piedmont Community College.

When the curtain goes up on Friday, Feb. 11, at Central Piedmont Community College’s Halton Theatre for the college’s first run of the musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” Mount Holly resident and veteran performer Steven Jepson will take center stage. He portrays the title character, a sinister Victorian London barber who teams up with a baker to kill and cook their victims into pies.

“The CPCC production will be as close to Broadway as you can get,” Jepson said. “The Halton Theatre has always presented excellent shows and this one will be no exception.”

According to Jepson, even the stage is up to Broadway standards.

“It is a large, moveable set with a barber shop on one side and pie shop on the other,” Jepson said. “As the scenes require, it is rotated to face the audience. It took a lot of lumber and ingenuity to construct.”

Portraying a razor-wielding murderer who makes pies from human flesh is a role Jepson, whose background in musical theater has taken him all over the world, can really sink his teeth into.

Originally from Coralville, Iowa, Jepson came to Mount Holly in 2005 with his wife, Loretta, when her employer transferred her to the Charlotte area. After looking for a place to settle down, Jepson said it didn’t take them long to fall in love with their Riverfront Parkway home on the Catawba River just downstream from Mount Holly.

“It’s a nice oasis,” he said.

Along with the house, Jepson quickly found a home away from home with Gaston School of the Arts, where he has worked as a teacher, performer and consultant. He also has produced shows there, including the Gilbert and Sullivan hits “The Pirates of Penzance” and “The Mikado.” His work introducing students to musicals is one of the highlights of his experience there, he said.

“It’s really nice to see them enjoy Gilbert and Sullivan,” Jepson said. “Though it may sound trite, my fondest memories of living here will be making a difference in the lives of kids who might not have looked at music as a profession. I’ve seen some that will go on to great careers.”

In addition to his work with youth, Jepson also has had an impact on the local musical scene, through his involvement at the Gaston Choral Society as well as a performance of a Mass in jazz tempo by Dave Brubek that was seen at Belmont Abbey. He also has worked with Opera Carolina.

Though the Jepsons are fond of their light and airy home on a Catawba River cove, changes in Loretta Jepson’s job situation will require them to leave the area in August when Steven Jepson returns to the University of Iowa to finish his Doctorate in Voice. Their daughter, Katie, currently is a student there studying voice and elementary education.

“We have enjoyed living in Mount Holly and North Carolina, especially the proximity to the mountains and coast,” Jepson said. “But we have a place in our hearts for the Midwest. I think I’ll go back home.”

Sadly, the CPCC production of “Sweeney Todd” will be Jepson’s last time on a local stage before going back to Iowa, but thankfully, audiences will once more get to enjoy his talent and love of the theater before the actor heads west.

The cast of “Masterpiece” features, from left, Lou Dalessandro, as investigator Wooning; Scot Slusarick, as forger Han van Meegeren; Ashley Stowe, as Han’s wife, Jo; and Charles Muller, as art critic Abraham Bredius.

The intriguing story of one of the world’s most notorious art forgeries comes to Davidson Feb. 24, when the Community Players premier the intellectual thriller “Masterpiece.”

The World War II drama depicts the true story of Dutch artist Han van Meegeren, played by Scot Slusarick, and his painstaking plot to take vengeance on powerful art critic Abraham Bredius by forging a painting by 17th century Dutch painter Johnannes Vermeer.

After Bredius validates the painting as a newly discovered Vermeer, van Meegeren earns a fortune. For years, he continues his lie, painting fake Vermeers until one lands in the hands of high ranking Nazi field marshal Hermann Goering.

After the war, van Meegeren is arrested by Dutch authorities as a traitor for selling priceless Dutch artwork to the Nazis.

To avoid being hung, van Meegeren admits he’s a forger. To prove it, he paints another forgery for the court.

The play not only explores a pivotal point in art and world history, it also asks: What is art? What is great art? And who gets to decide?

“Bredius (classifies) one of these paintings as a masterpiece, and when he discovers it was forged by van Meegeren, whom he hates, he can’t bring himself to admit that it’s not still a masterpiece,” director Martin Thompson said.

Huntersville veteran actor Charles Muller plays Bredius, his first local role after moving from Long Island.

“Bredius is a very powerful critic who wants to maintain his authority at all costs,” Muller said, “and van Meegeren is the creative artist who insists on his right to create in spite of the criticism. Both characters, ultimately, are very sincere about what they are doing.”

Despite the conflict, Bredius maintains his power to tell the public what is and isn’t great art but faces his own comeuppance at the end of the show, Thompson said.

Award-winning playwright Meir Ribalow said his motivation to bring the historical drama to stage stems from his intrigue with the question of what’s real and what’s not.

“I was fascinated by the idea of reality and illusion, of truth and the mutable nature of truth,” Ribalow said by phone from New York.

The 1947 trial only lasted a few hours, so Ribalow focused the story on the investigation.

The truth was uncovered by Dutch investigator Wooning, played by Lou Dalessandro.

“I had this super cop who’s very quiet and logical and relentless,” Ribalow said. “The structure solved itself because it really was about the investigation and not the trial.”

Want to go?
Davidson Community Players presents “Masterpiece” Feb. 24-March 13 at Armour Street Theatre. Playwright Meir Ribalow will attend March 5 and 6 for a chat after the show. Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors and $10 for students. Recommended for ages 13 and older. For tickets, visit www.davidsoncommunityplayers.org or call 704-892-7953.

by Alison Woo

The Tony-award winning musical "In the Heights" will be at Belk Theatre from Feb. 15-20. For tickets and more information, visit blumenthalcenter.org

The American Dream is built on the idea that people can come from anywhere, work hard and become successful. For Lin-Manuel Miranda, the writer, actor and celebrated creator of the musical “In the Heights,” that dream played out in life and on stage when he wrote about growing up in New York City’s Washington Heights and the mélange of families and people he experienced there.

Call it the West Side Story for this millennium. The Broadway musical “In the Heights” captivated audiences, won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical and became a huge sensation. Now, while the first national touring company is touring the nation, the show’s original creators are filming the movie version to bring its message to the masses.

Playing a central role in the on stage drama, which opens at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center next week, is an actress with Carolina ties. Genny Lis Padilla, who spent her formative years in Columbia, S.C., plays Vanessa, a young woman who is the first in her family to go to college. She’s attending Stanford University on a scholarship, but when she comes back to visit the old neighborhood she shares how difficult she finds it assimilating into a much larger world.

Padilla says the role was made for her.

“There are lots of similarities I have with the character,” she said on the road touring with “Heights” in Rochester, N.Y. “Both my parents are from Puerto Rico but I went to middle and high school in Columbia, just down the road from Charlotte. My dad started a dental lab and worked hard to send me to (New York City) where I could study dance and drama. That experience definitely made me not want to disappoint my family and motivated me to keep moving forward and make them proud.”

Relying on a mixture of faith, hope and optimism

Padilla got her big break when a casting director saw her during a mock audition at the esteemed New York Academy of Drama, where she was a student, and invited her to audition for the Broadway cast of “Rent.”

“I fell in love with the show and got casted for this huge ensemble piece,” she said. “This was literally the best way to get my feet wet… I got to travel and see so many cities.”

Padilla decided to put down some permanent roots in New York City, which was a big shift from her adopted hometown in South Carolina.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she added. “There’s nothing like New York – it’s fast paced and a different beast in and of itself with all different spectrums from all different races and nationalities – but I was coming up from a very calm, all-American high school. I drove to school and there were parades and rallies so it was a bit of a culture shock. But I always knew I wanted to sing, act and dance and this was the place to do it, so why not?”

Starting from scratch

Padilla says the process of putting together the national tour for “Heights” was unique. “When we were hired, the director and choreographer basically said, ‘You’re not getting hired as dancers first; you are getting hired as actors first. Something about you has shone through and convinced us you could play the part,’” she said. “I loved that it was very much seeing us as individuals.”

The actress says it’s those close ties that led the group to bond.

“We’re very much a family,” she said. “All these people have grown up together. We were hired in that mold, so it’s inevitable we would fit that mold. We love each other and support each other always and it’s been a wonderful experience. Not every cast works this way.”

Just because the story is about one culture doesn’t mean it has a limited appeal.

“You don’t have to be Latin to enjoy this show,” Padilla said. “A lot of people can relate to the fact of what it takes to start from the beginning and try to make something of their lives. It could be you, or your parents or even your parent’s parents.

“No matter who you are or where you’re from, everyone has a hometown they connect to and people they love. This is a story that lives in everyone’s heart.”

“In the Heights” will be at the Belk Theatre from Feb. 15 to 20. To purchase tickets, visit www.blumenthalcenter.org.

The annual children’s production at Davidson College this weekend will feature “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” This is the first time since 2005 the Connie Company of the Davidson Community Players and the Davidson College Department of Theatre have featured this classic. The photo above was taken at the 2005 play.

It’s a fashionable retelling of one of history’s greatest yarns.

Davidson Community Players and the Davidson College Department of Theatre will take on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes” this weekend.

Melissa Ohlman-Roberge, creative director for the Players, will direct the play about the emperor whose desire to look good overshadowed his interest in leading his people and the two tailors who decide to swindle him.

This is the fifth-consecutive year for Ohlman-Roberge as director, following “Sleeping Beauty,” “Jack and the Bean Stalk,” “Cinderella” and last year’s “Rumplestiltskin.” The collaboration between the theatre troupe and Davidson College is a continuation of the tradition set by Connie Company founder and former Davidson College professor, the late Rupert T. Barber Jr.

“Every year, I try to take Rupert’s adaptation and expand on that,” she said. “My mark has been to add elements of music and dance.”

In some respects, Andersen’s 19th century fable already reflected today’s fashion-obsessed culture, but Barber further expanded contemporary connections by adding political protestors who speak out against the idea of using tax money to fund the emperor’s new wardrobe.

Barber was the college’s first full-time theatre faculty member, serving as professor of theatre from 1963 to 1998. He directed more than 60 productions, and in 1996 founded The Connie Company, the youth programming arm of Davidson Community Players that markedly expanded youth theatre in the area. He adapted this and many other popular fairy tales into stage productions for children before his death in 2006.

Unlike most Department of Theatre productions, the condensed nature of these plays, which require the cast of college students to make a brief, two-week commitment from the first rehearsal to the closing show, opens the possibility of doing performances to non-theatre majors.

More theater news

• The Connie Company will offer two additional children’s productions this season, bundling three shows into a $20 season subscription that includes this production, E.B. White’s “Stuart Little” in April and “School House Rock Live! Jr.” in November.

Youth can hone their own performance skills during Connie Company’s drama classes for grades K-2, 3-5, and middle/high school students later this month at Davidson’s Armour Street Theatre.

• The Davidson Community Players is also launching “Seniors On Stage” classes for ages 50 and up beginning Jan. 31. Courses include a 12-week “Acting on Your Feet: Improv and Storytelling” Mondays from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and “Short Attention Span Theatre,” Thursdays, 2 to 3:30 p.m. For fees and information on classes for all ages, call 704-892-7953, or visit www.DavidsonCommunityPlayers.org and select “education,” then “classes and camps.”

Want to go?

Davidson Community Players’ Connie Company and Davidson College Department of Theatre will present “The Emperor’s New Clothes” this weekend only, Friday, Jan. 21, at 4:30 and 7 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 22, at 10:30 a.m., 2:30 and 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, Jan. 23, 2:30 and 4:30 p.m., at Cunningham Theatre Center, Davidson College.

Tickets cost $7 for the show that is recommended for ages 4 years or older.

A season subscription for all three children’s productions is $20.

For tickets, call 704-892-7953 or go online, www.DavidsonCommunityPlayers.org.

Jo Ann Darby, author of “The Girlfriend Book,” poses with her daughter, Alana, whom she called her “original girlfriend.” The book was released earlier this year and has prompted a great response.

CORNELIUS – What started as a way to pass life lessons to her daughter, has quickly grown into a movement for Jo Ann Darby and thousands of women.

Several years ago Darby, owner of Lake Norman Skin Studio in Cornelius, began keeping a journal of tips for her then 4-year-old daughter, Alana. Tips like: “The curve of your smile keeps a lot of things straight,” “you are a little of each person you meet” and “when in doubt, do nothing.”

It was those tips and nearly 500 more that make up Darby’s “The Girlfriend Book,” a collection of friendly advice on topics from beauty and fitness to love and happiness.

“My main goal is to encourage women, tell them no one is perfect, that they are loved and to have some fun,” Darby said.

Darby spent years listening to friends dole out advice, quietly handwriting them in her notebook. And after seven years of compiling, friends and clients of her shop kept asking for copies.

“They kept asking me for a handwritten copy of my ‘girlfriend book’ because they said I gave them the best advice,” Darby said.

So she decided to publish her “golden nuggets” in the book with Warren Publishing, located in Cornelius. Since its April release, it’s created a groundswell. More than 5,000 people are following Darby on Facebook.com, and sales have been strong. A producer in Los Angeles has called and is discussing turning the book into a movie, a “remaking of ‘Steel Magnolias,’” she said.

Darby believes many women are overburdened and are looking for some girlfriend advice.

“We have so many areas in our life where we are trying to be superwoman,” she said.  “We don’t have time to sit down and read an entire book. We need little nuggets that will pop into our head when we need them.”

Fans have praised the book since its release and have sent in several thank-you notes to its author.

“I like how the book is broken down into sections,” Heather Brown of Denver said.  “It allows you to go quickly to the area that relates to your need so that you find a great tip.”

Cindi VanWingerden, of Huntersville, likes the chapters on friendship, love and happiness.

“Life is all about relationships, and strong relationships are what make our lives more meaningful and fun,” she said.

VanWingerden feels the book is for anyone, no matter her age.

“While some advice is specific to a certain time in our lives (i.e. wedding tips), most is everyday advice that women of all ages will find useful,” she said.

While the women have found something in the book that speaks to them, many also point to Darby as someone who has been able to help them in their lives.

“She is the ultimate girlfriend,” VanWingerden said.

Want more information?
To learn more about “The Girlfriend Book” visit www.thegirlfriendbook.com or search for it on Facebook.com or Twitter.com. The book can be purchased at local bookstores and Amazon.com.