Janet Tolle writes about her books:

Nellie and the Runaway Drone is my second children’s book and will be released in September 2023. I was inspired to tell this story when a visitor stayed at the Great House in the spring of 2022 and brought his drone. I began wondering where I could take young readers with a runaway drone and what we might learn along the way.

Dusty Scott beautifully illustrated my first book last fall, and I watched how children interacted with him—a real artist published in a children’s book, Silas, the Great House Cat. It was a kind of magic. As I prepared to publish a second book, I felt it was important to introduce children to another local artist. Nikki Ponce, adjunct art instructor at Carl Sandburg College, enthusiastically came along on this project and produced over twenty vibrant watercolor paintings, showing us Galesburg in a new way. Children will love her interesting angles, rich colors, and bold lines. I suspect many will try out her playful style with their own art supplies.

The adventure begins at the train depot when a pup named Nellie sets off an unattended drone by playing with its remote control. The reader soars off with the drone to over twenty locations in the town, which include everyday places such as a grocery store, a library, and a park. The drone also visits historic locations and teaches simple lessons about this town’s history. At the end, the unsettled townspeople gather to investigate how the mishap occurred. After watching the video of the drone’s flight, they recognize that their town is an amazing place to live.

Whatever children imagine the flight of the runaway drone to be, they are not wrong. Each reader will have their own ideas. I intentionally left the town unidentified in the story so it can be enjoyed no matter where children live. For locals, this town sounds and looks like Galesburg, and they will recognize it as such.

The book is a hefty 52 pages and suitable for elementary school readers. Bonus pages contain information about Galesburg’s history as it relates to the drone’s flight, although it is not meant to be a complete history of Galesburg. There are also drone photographs by contributors Anne Golden and Robert Bondi, which give children a fun perspective. On the last page, there is a seek-and-find game of the names of notable citizens in Galesburg’s history hidden within the illustrations.