BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Fiction spilled over into reality Wednesday as Baldwin County children's book authors Ilene Baskette and Karen Thomason came to Bay Minette to read and sign copies of their new book, “The Boathouse Buddies Deal with the Big Spill” at Best Friends Gallery.

The women began the event by asking the seven children attending about personal experiences at the beach and with last year’s B.P. oil spill.

Thomason explained that one character, Jimmy Jetski, had to go to the river instead of the beach. She asked the children if they had to do something similar last summer.

“We went to the beach. Plus my mommy, and my daddy and my uncle had to go fishing,” answered 3-year-old Ana-Chesley Robinson.

Jimmy Jetski also said he traded in his jet-ski for a four-wheeler. Thomason asked who had been on a Jetski and four wheeler.

“How many animals were affected by the oil spill?” Robinson asked the children.

“We don’t know an actual number, but there were a lot,” Baskette said, “and that’s what scared so many people.”

Thomason said the books went beyond their initial goal of teaching environmental awareness.

“They were written in response to the oil spill,” she said after the reading. “We wanted to do our part. But then it became about helping children deal with any crisis they might face.”

Baskette added that the books have many uses.

“They have value in every-day life as well as in situations like the tornadoes and wildfires,” she said.

She explained that Project Rebound, a coalition of Alabama agencies that provide relief and assistance in the aftermath of a disaster, uses the books in the curriculum to teach “awareness and involvement in coping and dealing with life.”

The books recognize families of explosion victims on the inside of each cover, and a percentage sales is donated to community agencies that teach children environmental awareness, she said.

The seventh book of the 10-book series will come out next week, according to Baskette.

Baskette and Thomason worked with Baldwin County illustrator Cindy Allen and editors Melanie Houseknecht and Elva Simpson on the project.

According to Baskette, it’s been a successufl cooperative effort, as the first two of six books, were published in December 2010 and approximately 2,000 total books have been sold.

“All together is how we’ve done this,” she explained.

To promote the book, Wednesday’s Bay Minette visit was one of a dozen book-signing engagements, with another planned for July.

For more information, visit www.boathousebuddies.com.