Angel and the Butterfly Blog
(Posted on Monday, June 22, 2020)
Hello All. I wrote Angel and the Butterfly around thirty years ago as a short story. I had no intention at the time to write a book, but fate had a different idea.
One of our precious felines had passed away a few months previous and I was still in the grieving process. Then one evening when my husband went out in front of the house to move the trash barrels to the curb, he noticed a small black kitten underneath one of our cars. He called to me to come out and look. The kitten was so cute and so sweet. It was dark outside so we decided to bring him into the house, at least for the night, until we could locate his owner.
The next day I checked with our neighbors and nobody had any idea about where this kitten had come from or to whom he belonged. I decided to name this adorable little guy Angel, and we decided to keep him as our own. He was a perfect fit within our family. We already had Grasshopper and Bunny, and they both took to Angel affectionately. Angel was a really adorable and loving kitten, and he grew up to be a really adorable and loving cat.
I had also written a poem in the same timeframe as writing Angel and the Butterfly. The poem was titled, A Bird’s Song, as my love for birds during my life has been strong.
My short story and my poem sat in a drawer for many, many years as life went by and they were forgotten about. Then a couple of years ago, I came across them as I was going through some old papers. I stopped and read the story again and liked it. That is when the idea was born about turning this manuscript into a children’s book. The story had to be redesigned a little but, for the most part, it is very similar.
Okay, so the decision was made. Angel and the Butterfly was going to become a children’s book. Now I needed a publisher and an illustrator. I did my research and Mascot Books was my choice for a publisher, hands down. After that decision was made, Mascot offered me a selection of illustrators to choose from. Alaina Luise stood out amongst the others as her style depicted exactly what I wanted to convey. What a great job she did on Angel and the Butterfly. I am so happy with her artwork.
In real life, all three cats, Angel, Grasshopper, and Bunny, were black. Once the decision was made to write this story as a children’s book, I decided to have each cat be a different color and matched each one to what our current cats look like. Otherwise, we would have a story about three black cats, which sounds more like a nursery rhyme.
I will be adding to my blog on a regular basis. My intention is to open up a world of possibilities to today’s children.
