In today's blog, we are thrilled to feature a remarkable guest who is passionately using her talent for writing children's literature to highlight the vital importance of animal rescue. Judy McGee’s delightful picture book, "Pennygirl's Rescue," narrates the touching tale of her rescue dog, Penny, and her remarkable transition from a Texas shelter to her loving forever home in Canada. We were fortunate enough to engage with Judy and pose a few questions about her book and her experiences as an author up to this point. Join us as we explore her creative journey and discover some insightful lessons and inspiration from her heartfelt narrative.

First of all, can you share the story behind the inspiration for “Pennygirl’s Rescue” and what led you to write this wonderful children’s picture book?

My book “Pennygirl’s Rescue” is a story about my rescue dog, Penny. I started writing it on the way to pick Penny up from the dog transport 3 ½ hours from my home. You see, after losing our beautiful Labradoodle, Toby, in July of 2020, we longed for another dog to bring love and joy into our home. We decided to adopt, and save a life, rather than purchase a dog from a breeder. In mid-August of 2020, I found Penny online, on the Niagara Dog Rescue site and fell instantly in love with her photo and BIO! She was living in a dog shelter in Texas, USA, awaiting a Forever Home. I applied, had a phone interview and photo inspection (it was the height of Covid-19, so they weren’t doing the usual home visits at the time). We were accepted to adopt Penny and it was so exciting to be told she would be arriving in Niagara-on -the-Lake, Canada in just 3 weeks, September 18, 2020! I began to prepare for Penny’s arrival, collecting up the necessary items such as a crate for her to sleep in, a collar and leash and a few new toys. The meeting place on September 18th was a gas station parking lot in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, about 3 ½ hours drive from our home in Trenton, Ontario, Canada. On the way, I began to think about how a rescue dog would feel after spending 6 months in a dog shelter, after having lived with a family and her siblings in Texas. Would she be frightened, or shy and would she be excited to meet and come home with her new Forever Family? We arrived at the planned meeting place a half hour early, at 7pm, just in case Penny’s transport was early. As it turned out, her transport with 13 other puppies, was delayed at the Canada/USA border for 3 hours! We sat waiting in our car and I continued writing, just jotting down some more ideas. Over the next 4 years, my story sat on my phone, and every once in a while, I would add something more to it about our first meeting with Penny, the trip home, the first night having her home and settled and other fun tidbits of her behaviours and day to day life with our sweet girl. By the way, Pennygirl has become Penny’s nickname, as our fondness has grown since adopting her.

What a heart-warming tale…Penny is a lucky girl!

In addition to Penny’s story, we’re excited to learn more about you! Can you share your background and how you first ventured into the realm of children’s literature? What attracted you to this particular genre?

My back ground is actually in the medical field. I have a dual degree as a Registered X-ray Technologist and Registered Diagnostic Ultrasound Technologist which I retired from 4 years ago, but I have loved reading and writing my entire life. I always enjoyed teaching my children how to read, helping in the reading program in my son’s primary school as a volunteer and my husband and I fostered a love of reading with our children and enjoyed family bedtime stories every night, as my parents had with my

siblings and I growing up. In January 2024, I had the opportunity to take a course about writing a children’s picture book and, at that time, I decided my story of Penny would be perfect. I felt it was a story worth telling to raise awareness of homeless dogs, dog shelters: why we need them and the importance of adopting these beautiful animals who, through no fault of their own, landed in a dog shelter and to tell people of our love for our beautiful rescue dog, Penny.  My story is the first installment of “The Pennygirl Series”. I am hoping to publish Book Two in a year’s time and is entitled “Pennygirl Comes Home”.

It definitely is a story worth telling, and Penny is a beautiful dog as shown in your illustrations! Speaking of which, what influenced your choice of illustrations for the book? Can you elaborate on your creative process and whether you collaborated with an illustrator?

I thought from the very beginning, that my illustrations for “Pennygirl’s Rescue” would need to be life-like, not cartoon or bright colors. I am not an illustrator so I had to hire one. I started looking on various platforms of artists offering their services and really took a long time finding exactly the style I wanted. I came across an artist with hand sketched, watercolor painting illustrations and fell in love with her style. I really feel they bring truth and depth to my story because they look so real and relatable, as Penny’s story is a serious and thoughtful one. I started with asking my illustrator to draw Penny for me in a specific scene to see if she could capture her. The scene was page 24 of my book of Pennygirl out for a walk with Tammy and she pokes her head into some tall reeds by the pond and out pops a huge bullfrog, bopping her on her snout. The first drawing wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned so in addition to the 3 photos I had sent the illustrator, I sent a dozen more and explained how I thought Peny should be in a crouched position with a look of surprise due to the huge bullfrog hitting her in the snout. She came up with a new pencil sketch which was perfect and, once painted, became the one you see today in my book! I had a lot of control over my creative process of the illustrations which I am so happy of. I basically divided my manuscript of 978 words into 28 pages and placed the text on each page, some had more words, some less, depending on where it was most appropriate to make clear page changes. I then made up what I called Pennygirl Scenes, writing a description of what I wanted drawn on each page based on my text. I live in Canada and my book takes place in Texas, USA, so I looked up vegetation in Texas, both in drier areas in the farm setting and along the pathway and around the pond in wetter regions and sent about 50 pictures to my illustrator so the vegetation you see in my book is quite accurate. I did this with the cow and goat on the farm as goats and cows in Texas look a bit different in Texas as opposed to where I live. I really wanted a snowy owl called Jenkins so I researched if they would be found in Texas, and yes, they migrate from Canada to the southern states in Winter. I also researched whether barns and farmhouses are different looking in different parts of the world, and yes they have a different appearance so I sent photos of what I specifically wanted, to my illustrator. So, lots of research but I really enjoyed having so much control over my creative process.

That's wonderful and definitely evident in the final product! 

On the topic of your creative process, can you walk us through your journey to getting your book published? Any advice for those looking to follow in your footsteps?

I was hybrid published, which means I had a publisher, and they outlined what my journey would be, and giving me a manual to guide me through from start to finish but being available to help when needed. The manual was an amazing guide with lectures, offered online as videos accompanied by written material and examples, concise and easy to follow. The publisher also provided me with an Author Coach which is a published author with experience in the journey I was on. I met with her once a month on zoom to discuss my progress, keep me on track, help with any queries I had and cheer me on to the finish line. My author coach was an amazing wealth of knowledge, support and kept me on track to my launch date. I started my publishing journey in March of 2024, attaining my clean version, final edit in April 2024. I then spent 2 months visiting the library to borrow a ton of children’s picture books that I remember loving when my kids were young, to get an idea of what I liked or disliked about the stories that had stood out in my mind. From these books I was able to choose my finished book size of 8”X10”, decide where I wanted my dedication, author BIO and book testimonials to be placed for best presentation. It was, while re-reading about 30 picture books, when I decided what art work I thought would best tell my story- life-like and soft colors. In early June, I was ready to look for an illustrator and

came upon Wharisha Khan’s portfolio on one of the many platforms I visited. After I commissioned her to draw and paint my first illustration of Pennygirl by the pond with the bullfrog, I hired her to do my remaining 27 illustrations. It was a huge project and my illustrator lives in Pakistan, which is 9 hours ahead from Ontario, Canada, where I live, so this was quite an obstacle to overcome, but we developed a good working relationship and I am thrilled with how my book illustrations made my book come to life!

My advice to anyone deciding to publish a picture book, to be very patient and trust the process. At one point, in July of 2024, my illustrations were quite late, weeks beyond the promised completion date due to unforeseen circumstances with my illustrator. I was so stressed out about my book not being into my book designer within the nine week window required prior to publishing, to meet my launch date of December 3rd, but, in the end, it all came together on the date it was supposed to! Another thing I would like to add is don’t be shy to go back and back for edits of your illustrations if they aren’t exactly as you envisioned them. It is so worth the extra time and effort to get your finished product exactly to your vision.

Such great advice! Now, what would you say has been your favorite moment or highlight in your journey as an author so far?

Having my grandson say to my family, “I can’t wait to go to school and tell all my friends that my Grandma wrote a book!”

So sweet! And, what key message do you want young readers to grasp from “Pennygirl’s Rescue”?

I would like young readers to understand that love and compassion of dogs, and all animals is very important and that adopting a dog, rather than purchasing from a breeder, saves a life; a very precious life who deserves a second chance. I want young readers to learn about animal advocacy and why dog’s can end up in shelters; that it’s through no fault of their own that many circumstances lead to a dog shelter situation. Also, that all dog’s have a back story and deserve a second chance at a loving and caring Forever Home.

A very important message!...While on the subject of animal advocacy, what tips would you offer to parents or teachers who wish to incorporate “Pennygirl’s Rescue” into lessons on compassion and animal welfare in children?

My book shines a light on dog rescue, the importance of it, and the need for it with so many homeless dogs. The number of homeless dogs is increasing thereby putting pressure on the dog shelters due to over capacity. These dogs have landed in a shelter through various circumstances beyond their control such as animal cruelty where the dog is taken away from the owner and must go into a shelter until rehomed or the owner passes away and there has not been a plan implemented for a family member or friend to take over the dog’s care, abandonment of the dog by the owner perhaps because they no longer wish to care for the dog or are regretting the purchase of a dog for a family pet for all manor of reasons. One reason could be the owner did not do their research about the dog’s breed and they have grown much bigger than they had anticipated. This is one of many reasons dogs get surrendered. I believe young readers need to be taught about adoption versus purchasing and about dog rescue, as they may be interested in informing their parents perhaps when a discussion comes up about getting a family dog. The illustrations of “Pennygirl’s Rescue” soften the harsh reality of the topic of dog rescue and this book would be a good introduction to animal welfare, love and compassion.

Agreed, and how has the response been from readers since the book’s release?

I am excited to say the response from readers of “Pennygirl’s Rescue” have been overwhelmingly positive! I am hearing that they love the style of writing, having the story told from Pennygirl’s point of view and they love my choice of the hand sketched watercolor illustrations. Many people I’ve talked with are really taken with the fact that Pennygirl is actually my rescue dog in real life and that she turned 5 on the day my book launched, December 3rd!

That is so special! Fingers crossed we will see more adventures with Penny or perhaps other rescue animals in the future?

Yes, I have several projects in the works for “Pennygirl’s Rescue”. I am in the midst of planning an book signing/adoption event around the middle of February 2025 with the group that rescued Penny, Niagara Dog Rescue, which will be really fun and different! As well, I am doing author interview/article in Kidliomag in the early Spring which I am very excited about and my book will be featured on  “Story Time with Mama V” podcast on April 15/25. Also, I will be attending several craft fairs which are always a lot of fun talking to people about the book!

Yes! “Pennygirl’s Rescue” is Book One in “The Pennygirl Series”! I have Book Two already written and it’s entitled “Pennygirl Comes Home”. I hope to release it in about a year’s time. I may introduce another rescue dog in Book Three!

Amazing news, lastly, where can readers get their hands on the book and stay updated on your adventures as an author?

My book is available on amazon everywhere: Here’s the link:

https://tinyurl.com/Pennygirls-Rescue 

Readers can check out my website at www.judymcgeeauthor.com 

I have free downloadable printable coloring pages on my website!

I am on Instagram @judymcgeeauthor and Facebook https://facebook.com/authorjudymcgee

We definitely suggest following this author's journey and picking up their book; it's a fantastic addition to children's literature with a crucial message! 

Thanks for reading, and catch you next time!