HALIFAX—A Nova Scotian icon, whose YouTube weather reports have reached millions online, will see a book released about his life next month, and he couldn’t be more excited.

“Those people make me feel great,” Frankie MacDonald said. “They’ll be reading about my childhood days, going to read about my past, going all the way back to 1984.”

MacDonald, who’s from Sydney N.S., has always been interested in the weather. When he was younger he taught himself how to read weather models, which then led him to start posting his forecasts on YouTube. His current channel boasts over 170,000 subscribers from around the world.

MacDonald recently co-authored a book with Sarah Sawler titled Be Prepared: The Frankie MacDonald Guide to Life, the Weather, and Everything, which comes out through Nimbus Publishing on June 15. The book is geared toward children between seven and 10 years old.

As the subtitle suggests this is a book about everything. From mental disabilities, to technology, to bullying, the internet and, of course, the weather.

MacDonald, who is autistic, had nothing but great things to say about working with Sawler and her dedication to researching his story.

“It was great that I was working with Sarah. She did her research since 2017. Sarah interviewed my grandparents, interviewed my father, interviewed my former teachers aide,” he said.

Sawler said that when she first started working on the project she wasn’t sure how it would turn out. But, she said, Frankie’s story served as a guide through a wide range of topics.

“It’s so important that he’s considered a co-author because he really was integral to this process,” Sawler said.

“It’s not just a story about Frankie,” she said. “He supplied so much of the information… I didn’t come into it saying I want to write about bullying, I want to write about autism… but it’s just the way his story came out as I worked with him.”

Sawler, who was asked by Nimbus to participate in the project after finishing her book 100 Things You Don’t Know About Atlantic Canada (For Kids), said that going in to the project she felt a great need to do the story justice.

“I just was incredibly dedicated to making sure I got it right and I was willing to go look as much as I had to, to talk as much as I had to, to Frankie, to everyone else that’s relevant to make sure that I got it right,” she said.

Powerful Storm is on its way for Nova Scotia on Friday November 1, 2013 and it will bring up to 30+ mm of rain and it will rain sideways and the winds will be very strong in Nova Scotia and the waves will be big as well and the Low Pressure system is getting very intense and People in Nova Scotia Be Prepared have your Rubber Boots and your Rain Coats and your Rain Suits Ready. Especially on the Coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland the Winds will gust well over 100 KM/H along the Coast of Nova Scotia and the Powerful Storm will also Hit Newfoundland Especially in St. John's Newfoundland and Halifax Nova Scotia and Sydney Nova Scotia as well and New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island will also get hit by the Powerful Storm too and Order your Pizzas and Chinese Food Buy Cases of Pepsi and Coke and Do your Grocery Shopping Don't wait until the Last Minute Do it Right Now. Have your iPads, iPods, Cell Phones, Laptops and Tablets Charged. Have your 3G and 4G internet Ready and Have your Extra Batteries, Candles, Flashlights and Crank Up radio Ready just in case the Power Goes out in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

During the process Sawler consulted with the Autism Nova Scotia and with MacDonald and his family to ensure she got everything right and presented it fairly.

“I had Frankie’s dad review it again to make sure everything was right there. Of course Frankie, he reviewed it as well, and Frankie is really fastidious with his facts and his dates and all of those types of things,” Sawler said.

Sawler first spent some time in Cape Breton with MacDonald and his family before coming back to Halifax to start writing. Throughout the writing process she said she kept in “very, very close touch” with MacDonald in order to get his opinion and thoughts on the book.

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“Frankie, of course, was just amazing to work with and was the main highlight of the project, obviously,” she said.

“A lot of what we did was on Twitter DMs,” she added. “As I had questions and wondered about stuff in my mind as I went, I would send Frankie quips, like DMs, and say, ‘Hey Frankie, I was just thinking about this,’ and ask him the question, and then whenever he got to it, he would respond.”

As co-authors MacDonald and Sawler will be splitting the royalties, something Sawler got asked about early on.

“That’s something that people look for now, when Frankie is involved, because of course they don’t want Frankie to be taken advantage of,” she said.

The book will be out June 15, and MacDonald himself will be signing copies of his book on June 23 at the Mayflower Mall in Sydney.

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