'Specifically for Islanders': You Know You're An Islander When...

Ivy Knight has lived in Toronto for 15 years but her Island roots still showin her new book,You Know You're an Islander When....

Thewriter said the idea for the bookcame from a post of P.E.I. one-liners she put up as a joketwo years agoon her foodwebsite.

Growing up onP.E.I., we had nothing. author Ivy Knight

"And it got shared more than anything I'd ever posted before," said Knight.

Then a year later, an Islander came across it and re-shared the post. Again, thehits on Knight'swebsite went crazy.

That's when Acorn Press approached her aboutturning the postinto a book.

Knight said it's a sortofpicture book for Islanders, with photos taken by her husband, Kerry Knight, on one pageand things only Islanders would get on the facing page.

Here are a few examples.

You know you're an Islander when.......

• You get excited when you hear P.E.I. mentioned on any news outlet other than Compass.
• When you see the sign for Vogue Optical you automatically sing in your head, "Your second pair is free."
• You know the difference between "out west"and "up west".
• Crapaud: to others it's a joke;to you, it's home.

All the sayings are Knight's, but she did run them by ateam of special Island advisors six friends from P.E.I. who helped do sometweaking.

Reflecting Northern Reflections

Knight was in high schoolwhen Northern Reflections opened in the then-Towers Mall in Charlottetown.

"That Christmas every single person had a Northern Reflections sweater or sweatshirt," said Knight."It was hilarious. Everyone on the Island was wearing the same thing."

She wanted to reflect that in the book, but couldn't figure out where. But Jeremy Larter, of Just Passing Through fame, came up with the solution.

Knight had the line, "You've tried to hide a hickey under a turtleneck." Larter suggested changing thatto, "You've tried to hide a hickey under a Northern Reflections turtleneck."

'Specifically for Islanders'

Early on during writing the book, Knight ran it by a non-Islander friend who works at a large Canadian publishing house in Toronto. He told her she shouldbroaden it outto appeal to peoplein the Maritimes. But Knightsteadfastlyrefused, saying she created this for Islanders.

"Growing up on P.E.I. we had nothing. We got nothing. We had Anne of Green Gables, and that was it."

She said P.E.I. was never mentioned in the national news, and there were even disputeswhether Stompin' Tom Connorstruly belonged toP.E.I.

"So I just decided if I'm going to write this it's going to be specifically for Islanders."

If you want to hear more about her book, you can hear an interview with Ivy Knight Monday on Mainstreet.