LITTLE MOLLY’S SECRET: AN UNEXPECTED CHAMPION
On St. Patrick’s Day 2018, Little Molly had a litter of nine puppies. 10-year-old Elsa volunteered to bottle feed the runt, and it soon became an integral member of the Evans’ family.
Young readers will appreciate Secret’s uniqueness as the narrative deals with themes that are different from many children’s books. Clues are weaved in with plenty of action, creating authentic situations to enrich the suspense of the engaging and poignant story. The image of ‘cuteness’ transforms a runt named Secret to become an unexpected champion.
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Reviews
This is a wonderful story about little girls raising a lamb shunned by its mother. Superbly written and beautifully illustrated, the book offers a warm welcome into Camas Prairie ranch life. I like the writing style, which makes it well-suited to reading aloud to children.
— Ann Chapman, Teacher
Author’s Biography
My parents had a large ranch in the Deer Lodge Valley Montana. To the east and west were mountains over 7,000 ft. high. Our mile high ranch had cows, horses, sheep, pigs, dogs, chickens, ducks and domestic geese. Today, my husband and I live on a small farm on Camas Prairie, near Grangeville, Idaho. We have 14 sheep, two retired horses, two working dogs, 15 chickens and two barn cats. As a person who likes animals, our barn is a very pleasant place to be, at all hours!
When I was eight years old I started a journal. I wrote silly stories mostly about an intelligent female collie puppy, Lassie that grew up to be a wonderful cattle and family dog. One story I wrote about Lassie was when I was a nine years old. She saved me from a domestic goose who blocked the milking barn entrance. I was by myself walking from the farmhouse to the barn to help my dad when Lassie came to my aide to rescue me. My journal stated, “Lassie Saved the Day!” On my way back to the house I met Lassie at the corner of the field and patted her to show my appreciation.
Another entry in my journal was the night Lassie was killed by a speeding car. My brother and I were on horseback moving cattle across a public road in broad daylight. It took a long time before I could write about this terrible accident. I was heartbroken. Lassie couldn’t be gone? Some years later, I read my tear stained journal. It was hard to make out the fumbling words written on the page. A little girl just doesn’t forget a family pet and working companion. At the time, it was difficult to express my feelings in words about losing a pet that could have been avoided. Whether an animal survives or not, one would expect a responsible driver to stop at the scene. This driver didn’t.
I graduated from Montana State University, Bozeman, MT with a BS in Nursing, and later obtained a Masters in Education from the University of Alaska, Juneau.
As a 2nd grade reading and writing teacher for Academy Charter School in Palmer, Alaska to help students become writers I did a variety of things. One lesson students wrote about an Arctic animal adventure using the five steps of the writing process, planning prewriting, drafting, revising and editing and finally publishing. Then, they read their stories aloud to classmates. We must be willing to do the same.
I started to write seriously after retiring from the classroom, moving from writing about wild animal adventures to domestic farm animals. “Saving Lily” is a true story about a pet sheep and my first published book. I love the sheep in this story and I know you will, too!
My second book, “Little Molly”, was published in 2020. It is a story about a special Border Collie herding sheep on our farm in north central Idaho.
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