Former Hooks ISD student Mark Harbison returned home to Bowie County last week for a whirlwind tour of local schools to make donations of his book series that draws from the real life experiences of he and his brother Mike, as they grew up in Hooks back in the 60’s and 70’s. Harbison was invited to come for the visit by former Hooks ISD Superintendent Kathy Allen, who was a classmate at Hooks.
The tour included stops at Hooks Elementary and Junior High, Crestview in New Boston and James L. Germany Middle School in DeKalb. While in DeKalb, Harbison had the distinct pleasure of posing for pictures with two of his great-grandchildren, who are students there, Audrey and Gabriel Hornbuckle.
Harbison was in Bowie County with copies of his three-book series, The Brotherhood of Four. The series includes The Secret of Sandy Point: The Forgotten Landing, The Adventure at Moss Springs: The Ghost of Bertha McDonald, and The Trouble with Cole McCaslin: An Unexpected Friend. The author, who now lives in Georgia, flew in to Texas to donate the books to the local school libraries and says that he came away impressed by the visit.
He stated, “I was very impressed with the students, even the young ones. They were very engaged and asked good questions.” He told the West Bowie Post that he had a very good visit with DeKalb teacher Mandy Crawford, and left her with a course that will allow her to teach her students how to write a book.
The book series came to be as a combined effort of Harbison and his late brother, Mike Harbison, who was a teacher at Crestview. Mark described his brother as his childhood hero who had an eidetic memory that went on to acquire three PhD’s. Mark said of his brother, “The thing I always admired about him was with all his intelligence he could have done whatever he wanted in life yet he chose to teach Elementary school in a small town in Texas.” Of the book series Mark noted, “These stories are drawn from our own experiences growing up and in the books the boys meet at an iconic old oak they call the Loafing Tree. That very first loafing tree actually exists. We lived next to the Elementary School and on Houston Street there is a tree that grows from the center of the street and the road is paved around on either side of it.”
Mike began writing the books in the late 70’s and early 80’s They are based on some of the things the two brothers experienced growing up in this area. in the books there are two towns, the main one is Mercyville, which is Hooks and the other is Winslow Wells which is New Boston.
Mark said, “When he started to write these, he was teaching at Crestview Elementary in New Boston, and I was a recently returned Vietnam veteran. Mike had been teaching for a few years and was going through a minor career evaluation of is this really what I want to do and I was adjusting to a civilian lifestyle. These were a bit of catharsis for both of us. Mike first developed the characters of the four boys, Blake, Mickey, Chip and Skeeter as an amalgamation of all his students.”
The original manually typed pages got set aside for many years as life and careers got in the way of publishing, but in November of 2024 Mike passed away and Mark’s desire to see those books published became a real pursuit again.
The author stated, “I desperately wanted to find and finish the books the books but had no idea where they were.
My cousin Susan and searched and could not locate them. We knew there was a storage unit and we even had a key, just didn’t know where it was. Then exactly two hours before his Celebration of Life we located the storage unit. When I unlocked and raised the door, the unit was packed floor to ceiling and was so dusty and dirty that it was obvious that he had not been in it for many years. I was extremely discouraged and a bit heartbroken knowing that I might not ever get to secure his legacy. I gazed over the unit one more time and glanced down at my feet.
There was a cardboard box up against my boot tips. On top of the box was the three dusty dirty three ring binders that had the original type written drafts of the Brotherhood of Four books in them and on top of those was the bible my Mamaw had given him when he turned 18. There is no doubt in my mind that he meant me to find those at that very moment. We went to his Celebration of Life and I gave the Bible to Mike’s childhood friend Bishop Dan Edwards who was officiating, He used that Bible during the service.”
Mark then took those original transcripts and began to rewrite them and transformed them from large short stories into the finished books that are available today.
The close to 18-month project was followed by a search for a publisher that ended with Harbison opting to self-publish the series instead of bowing down to the demands of traditional publishing houses.
Harbison stated, “Making money is not my purpose, cementing my brother’s legacy and getting children to put down their screens and learn about life by living life is paramount. I mean this sincerely, if I manage to reach just one child and change their life for the better, then whatever it took me to do that is well worth it.”
Allen said of her friend and his visit, “It was wonderful having him come back home and go around and share his books with the four schools. It was a hectic morning but enjoyable and I am so pleased that our students now have these books to read.”
The three book series can be purchased on Amazon.com.
