Nine pals go on an adventure through Shelby Farms Park in a new Starry Nights children’s book that families can purchase as part of the annual drive-thru holiday light show.

The book, “Park Pals and the Grand Opening of Starry Nights,” follows Beale and Bella the buffaloes as they explore the urban park and encourage their friends to build a light display that brings the most holiday cheer.

The book — available as a new aspect to the Starry Nights exhibits that opened Friday, Nov. 29 — adds another layer to the holiday tradition that annually draws lines of cars to the park along the Walnut Grove corridor.

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Beale and Bella’s friends — Dawn the deer, Sunny the squirrel, Grumps the goose, Henry the heron, Hank the horse, Felix the fox and Opal the owl — each build light displays of landmarks from around the world, notable Memphis locations, winter wonderland, Santa’s workshop and the solar system.

Beale joined a book reading last month at First Horizon Foundation Visitor Center at Shelby Farms Park as visitors sipped hot cocoa and snacked on Christmas cookies. He jumped with joy as the adventure started to unfold before the children’s eyes. 

“All the cheer came to Starry Nights,” Leo Finch, 9, a junior editor, said after the reading. “It was a pretty good time there.”

Junior editors helped author Nicole Hughes, also a playwright for “Graceland Too: The Building Elvis Never Left,” develop an engaging storyline for the book available for purchase in the park’s visitor center. 

“The kids are just so wonderfully honest and funny in their feedback, and it really helped shape the story to what we have now,” said Hughes, recruited to the project by her sister, Courtney Blackburn, event manager at Shelby Farms Park. 

The project took four months. The book began as an idea of ProductionOne — which produces Starry Nights, Zoo Boo and Zoo Lights — when the park’s staff came to them looking for fresh ideas as COVID-19 halted events. 

The ProductionOne team, including co-owners Kiley and Rachel Butler, dreamed up Bella and Beale the buffaloes to be placed in the light installations so children look for them as they wind their way through the display. 

“We just love seeing kids smile and have an amazing time,” Kiley Butler said. “And so we’re always trying to think of things that we can do that will be more interactive because kids are in cars and what can they do besides see the lights?”

The team at Shelby Farms Park, plus their author and illustrator, brought the story to reality with a cast of characters, narrative and illustration.

With the help of park rangers, characters were developed based on real animals found in the park. 

Hughes made sure to use alliteration in the naming process. Her favorite character, Opal the owl, wears a set of pearls and is named after her 106-year-old great aunt.

Martheus Wade brought those characters to life with his illustrations inspired by “old-school” Disney. 

“I really believe that Starry Nights is a staple to the Memphis area, and being able to contribute and help out in any kind of way, that’s been real fun,” Wade said. 

Spoiler alert: In the end, the most unexpected pal, Grumps the goose, wins the contest and the opportunity to turn on the lights on opening night.

It was that turn of events that led Hudson Graff, 4, to pick Grumps as his favorite character. 

“Happy,” Graff replied when he was asked how the story made him feel. “Because he won.”