The Three Secrets

About the Book

The Three Secrets is a simple story of life’s journey as experienced by a sunflower, and it is perhaps a metaphor for all life journeys. The story is accompanied by the author’s equally simple illustrations, drawn using the mouse with a very old “paint” program on a very old computer. The simplicity of the story and illustrations work together to share the miraculous wonder of life with children and adults alike.

About the Author

The daughter of two well known Montana artists, Gretchen Bainum was born and grew up in the mountains of Montana. These two facts set the stage for a life-long quest to explore her love of nature through art. Her somewhat checkered career includes wrangling dudes in the Southwest in the early years, farming and raising her three children in rural eastern Kentucky, and several summers of working on a range crew for the Forest Service in Idaho and Montana. She also taught for a number of years in an elementary school in Kentucky, including elementary art. All of these experiences contributed to the creation of The Three Secrets as a way to share the wonder of nature with children. She currently lives on the Kentucky farm with her husband, where she continues to make art, though she returns to her native Montana every summer.