Doc is a veterinarian whose backyard is filled with animal friends, including Margie the myopic, sniffing skunk. One day, a mysterious visitor makes a mess and the animals must find the intruder. Will their adventures lead to more trouble or love at first smell?
When my first Siamese cat gave birth to six kittens on my bed, my appreciation for differences and the love of cats started. Cats and students have been a big part of my life for fifty years. Creative Writing was among the high school English courses I taught over my forty years in the classroom. I always wrote with my students. It provided me with knowledge of the assignment and led me down my own path of discovery. After retirement I was able to follow my passion of writing for young readers. I enjoy reading my books in elementary school classrooms and talking to my audience. They always provide me with amazing ideas and I have been able to use some of them to create new stories. I live in Colorado with my husband and one senior cat. I also enjoy being an active grandmother.
I put a skunk in my first book thinking only that they are little stinkers. Then I started to look into the worth of skunks. When my father-in-law practiced vet medicine, there were people who wanted skunks as pets. Why I wondered? Then I discovered they are a model for ecology. I think that was part of the reason to have skunk pets. So, I decided to use the fact that skunks are myopic and good for the environment and create an educational and fun story for young readers.
Book Excerpt
Glasses for Margie
Doc’s yard was a healthy place to live because the ecological system seemed to be in balance. Doc made a special garden area for Jack the rabbit and a pond for Mathew and Matilda. And, Margie the skunk was one of his main pest controllers. She bumped along in the yard every day looking for delightful tidbits of food. Some days she enjoyed a feast of a peapod, but her favorite foods were tomato worms, beetles, larvae, and grasshoppers. She especially loved grasshoppers when they were in season. She helped to keep Doc’s yard healthy. She was, in fact, a model for ecology. Everything had a purpose in Doc’s yard, and Margie’s job was to keep the yard and garden bug free.
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