{"id":274578,"date":"2026-08-29T09:46:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T09:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/274578\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T09:46:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T09:46:50","slug":"lafayette-college-student-envisions-brighter-future-in-debut-childrens-book-the-lafayette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/274578\/","title":{"rendered":"Lafayette College student envisions brighter future in debut children\u2019s book \u2013 The Lafayette"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Allison<\/a> <\/p>\n

Photo by Austin Carey<\/a> for The Lafayette <\/p>\n

Allison Stein \u201927 collaborated with Lafayette College custodian Joe Swarctz to create her recently published children\u2019s book \u201c2062: Sally in Spectropia.\u201d<\/p>\n

For nearly four years, Allison Stein \u201827 has interned at a publishing company, helping other people put their stories into the world. However, this past summer, the name on the cover was her own.<\/p>\n

Released on Aug. 1, Stein\u2019s first published book, \u201c2062: Sally in Spectropia,\u201d follows Sally, a young girl navigating the colorful, futuristic city Spectropia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think nowadays we need to start reimagining that future,\u201d said Stein.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s sort of what I was trying to do with 2062,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

Written for readers ages 7-11, the book takes place in 2062 \u2014 the same year imagined in the TV show \u201cThe Jetsons,\u201d a significant inspiration for the setting of Spectropia \u2014 and follows Sally as she foils the evil plans of two major villains, Mr. M. Stach and Cy Burns.<\/p>\n

According to Stein, the book goes out of its way to showcase elements such as community gardens and solar panels to create a sense of community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to make an effort to imagine a semi-possible, semi-happy future,\u201d Stein said. \u201cI think that\u2019s something a lot of people need to be able to imagine right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea for Spectropia had been sitting with Stein since high school. It was not until college, however, that Spectropia made the leap from idea to manuscript, coinciding with her blossoming publishing career.<\/p>\n

During her first-year seminar, Stein met Eva Acker \u201827, who connected her with her mother, Angel Ackerman, the founder of Parisian Phoenix Publishing. Stein soon began interning with the company, gaining an inside look at the industry she would eventually enter as an author.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe continuously looks for opportunities where she can explore avenues and grow as a person and a professional,\u201d Ackerman said of Stein.<\/p>\n

Through her work at the publishing company, Stein met Joe Swarctz, a Lafayette custodian and children\u2019s book illustrator. When she began the process of looking for an illustrator, she asked Swarctz to help bring Spectropia to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a quirky sense of humor, so it kind of matches her personality,\u201d Swarctz said.<\/p>\n

The illustrations began with Stein\u2019s ideas, but neither she nor Swarctz treated them as final. Stein would explain what she envisioned, and the two would cooperate from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started as a blank canvas,\u201d he explained. \u201cShe had some ideas, but obviously she\u2019s not an illustrator, so she kind of sketched out some stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

This collaboration gave Swarctz room to add in his own ideas. For instance, he suggested changing Sally\u2019s ride to a stingray-like creature, inspired by his own daughter\u2019s love of the animal.<\/p>\n

A month into its release, Stein is still finding ways to put \u201c2062: Sally in Spectropia\u201d into readers\u2019 hands. She has donated copies to Little Free Libraries, gifted books to professors with children and hopes to get her book into Easton Public Library and the Lafayette College Store.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to write more editions of 2062, probably with different characters and different cities,\u201d said Stein. \u201cThen also writing other things over time, longer pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, she hopes her first book gives young readers a reason to imagine the future differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they have fun,\u201d Stein explained. \u201cI want them to feel like the future can be fun and lovely and not frightening.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Austin Carey for The Lafayette Allison Stein \u201927 collaborated with Lafayette College custodian Joe Swarctz to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-274578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}