I wrote and published a children’s book titled Missouri. I cannot believe I just typed those words! Writing a children’s book has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. Missouri is a heartfelt picture book inspired by a true childhood journey filled with hope, perseverance, family, and dreams.
Publisher’s Synopsis:
What if your biggest dream didn’t turn out the way you expected… but led you exactly where you were meant to be? Missouri: A Story of Dreams, Family, and Finding Your Way is a heartfelt and beautifully illustrated children’s book about hope, resilience, and the powerful bond between a father and daughter.
Told through the eyes of a young girl clutching her beloved teddy bear, readers journey across states, chasing the promise of something better. Along the way, moments of wonder, disappointment, and quiet strength shape a story that will stay with readers long after the final page.
As the years pass, the meaning of “Missouri” transforms into something deeper, a symbol of dreams, perseverance, and the courage to keep going, even when life looks different from what was expected.
How Missouri Was Born From a Childhood Memory
I have loved books my entire life. As a child, stories helped me embark on countless adventures and travel to faraway lands. From visiting a tropical island with Miss Rumphius, to braving the West with Laura Ingalls Wilder, from riding on the wings of an owl in Hoot!, to solving a mystery with the Boxcar Children, books have always been my friend. No wonder I became a teacher. My days centered around books.
As a teacher, I was able to read countless stories, introduce students to exciting new worlds and poignant plot lines, and help children fall in love with reading. Being a teacher for 14 years just reinforced my love of books, especially children’s books, and allowed me to explore further a dream of writing my own one day.
How One College Assignment Changed Everything
A Childhood Journey That Became a Story
The idea for the book, Missouri, began in college. During my freshman year, we were tasked with writing a poem that detailed a significant event from our childhood. I chose to write about the summer I was eight years old, and my family and I loaded up everything we owned into the back of a pickup truck and tried to move from North Carolina to Missouri.
Packed with all of our belongings, faith, gumption, determination, and hope, we followed a dream my father held of beginning a new life in a new state that could be everything we had ever wished for. To a young girl whose family could never afford a vacation, the summer we went to Missouri was my first big adventure.
Experiencing “Faraway Places” for the First Time
In my poem, I wrote about the excitement of embarking on a road trip, experiencing firsts such as motel living and cable television, the wonder of why we were going specifically to Missouri (we had no family there), and the sheer anticipation of getting to ride alongside my father as I read books about faraway places, while finally experiencing “faraway places.”
When Dreams Don’t Unfold the Way We Expect
Sadly, I detailed the disappointment when Missouri became just another place that didn’t fulfill my father’s dream. I wrote of the familiarity of coming back home to North Carolina and how prayers sometimes take a while to be answered. Also, there’s beauty found in the quiet strength of patience and fortitude. I wrote about how Missouri could have really been anywhere and how my father was just a man with hopes and dreams.
The poem received an A+ and was published in my college’s literary magazine.
The Poem That Refused to Stay on the Shelf
Then, my first officially published work went on a shelf for years, until about two years ago, my 4-year-old daughter, Grace-Louise Hope, literally pulled the dream back into my life. She grabbed the magazine one day and said, “What’s this?” I reread my poem for the first time in over a decade and thought that the poem would make a good children’s book if I expanded on it.
Rediscovering a Forgotten Dream
When I was young, I told my mother I wanted to be several things: teacher, editor, writer…but the writer part was also put on the “shelf” just like that magazine, while real life beckoned. My dream of writing a book, much like my father’s dream of living elsewhere, might actually come true with some perseverance and determination.
How Missouri Went From Dream to Reality: The Journey From Poem to Picture Book
My mother and Obsessed with Learning partner, Tami Parker, had written, illustrated, and published her own three books when I presented to her the idea of turning my poem into a book. Of course, being one of my biggest encouragers, she said, “Let’s do it! And I’ll illustrate it!”
She is an amazing creator, so I felt like this idea could only come into fruition with her beautiful pictures and her wisdom. Oh, and she’s also an elementary school librarian, so she is practically an expert on children’s books.
I spent a year rewriting, adding details, playing around with restraint within writing, moving scenes, and doing all the redrafting writers do. My mother was a tremendous help. She would pop in and tell me where things needed to be, provide more descriptions, and where I could place more sensory details.
She was a wonderful sounding board as she told me to think about which sentences should go on which page based on the location of the pictures, which were items I had never considered beforehand.
Bringing Missouri to Life Through Watercolor-Inspired Art
I gave my mother, my editor and illustrator, a vision of what I wanted the pictures to be like. Missouri is a coming-of-age story with the settings being a central part of the plot line. The journey to Missouri describes landscapes and details such as the Mississippi River bridge, wistful fields and grassy hills, and galloping horses.
With the idea of a new state being the start of a new dream, I wanted the pictures to have a dreamy, idyllic, and picturesque quality, so we went with the idea of a watercolor style. She worked her magic with Adobe Illustrator and Express. Then, in secret, she illustrated the entire book without me knowing.
We had decided to put off illustrating the book until the summer when she, a school librarian, had vacation. Instead, she illustrated the entire book last fall and presented me with the images as a Christmas present. It turned out better than I ever expected.
The illustrations are nostalgic, timeless, and captivating. The images are ripe with American landscapes, expressive scenes of family and comfort, and invite readers into a heartfelt story. Small touches of North Carolina culture bring charm.
With illustrations that feel both timeless and tender, Missouri celebrates the beauty found in ordinary moments. They truly bring the story to life. The memories of that summer are beautifully played out on the pages of Missouri. After all, my mother was there.
She was behind our truck in her own vehicle. It was packed to the brim with our life’s treasures, so although she isn’t featured in the story, as it’s a book mainly about my father, she lived it herself. With that, there is no one out there better to illustrate it than her.
Themes and Teaching Opportunities in Missouri:
Sparks Meaningful Conversations With Students
I spent the majority of my teaching career working with upper elementary and middle school students. With this, I envisioned Missouri as a deeper-themed picture book with a more pensive tone and rich underlying lessons. I especially wanted to create a story that would resonate with older children.
Nevertheless, my six-year-old daughter loves the book, and every time we read it, she asks such deep questions. This book truly is for all ages.
Countless Teaching Opportunities
Missouri is abounding with countless teaching opportunities and gentle life lessons. Readers will see the themes of struggle and hardship. They will read about the courage of my father and his perseverance to pursue a better life for us, amidst financial difficulty.
Readers will understand how a child’s sense of imagination slowly starts to fade as reality sets in, yet is reawakened when we settle into a new type of dream and life. Students will read about the resiliency it takes to still hold on to a dream and a prayer, even if it’s not fulfilled right away. This is a lesson I have learned many times over as an adult.
Readers will learn the lessons that it’s okay to have your own dreams, to pursue them, and to realize, ultimately, that your dreams may change and look differently than the way you imagined.
The lesson of being content and finding joy in the midst of change, even if life didn’t go as you planned, is something all children can learn, and is a trait I have been able to carry throughout my life.
Missouri will spark conversations about family, change, and hope. It’s a great starting point to discuss if a student or family is moving or making a big life change. Ultimately, its powerful message of “It’s okay to have your own ‘Missouri,’” will inspire children to believe in their dreams, even when the path takes unexpected turns.
There are vast opportunities for discussion, writing ideas, and even activities when it comes to the geography of travel in this book. We will be making a book companion for it soon. Be on the lookout!
Perfect for Fans of Miss Rumphius and Home in the Woods
Why Readers of Heartfelt Picture Books Will Connect With Missouri
As I wrote the book, it was impossible not to draw inspiration from my favorite picture books for the emotional and sweeping generational story I wanted Missouri to become.
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
Miss Rumphius is one of my favorite picture books. I love how Barbara Cooney shows the journey and span of Alice Rumphius’ life sweetly and somberly. Readers are taken on a journey from Alice’s life as a child to an old lady, settled by the sea. She lived out her dreams. However, due to an unexpected back injury, she realized that life wouldn’t look the same after all. Miss Rumphius learns to find the good in the unexpected, much like Missouri teaches.
I always loved the deep message present within this book: Make the world more beautiful. It is a life lesson that I’ve always held dear to me. If your students love Miss Rumphius, they’ll love Missouri’s similar heartfelt tone.
Home in the Woods by Eliza Wheeler
Home in the Woods by Eliza Wheeler is another favorite picture book of mine. It inspired how I would approach the true story of my childhood in a book. This beautiful children’s book is about a family creating warmth and belonging in a tiny shack during the Great Depression.
Both books center around a family struggling through hardship. These two books both find contentment and even joy in the midst of difficult circumstances. Both stories show how hope, perseverance, togetherness, and the quiet magic of an ordinary life can be beautiful.
Just like the children in Home in the Woods find joy in playing outside and gathering berries, Missouri highlights the sweet, simple moments of swinging on a tire swing and reading by a pond. Those became some of the happiest memories of my childhood.
Home in the Woods, like Missouri, uses the settings as a type of character. The woods, seasons, country life, changing times, and outdoor landscapes create a sense of comfort and wonder, grounding both books emotionally. Like Home in the Woods, Missouri celebrates family, resilience, and finding beauty within challenges.
If your students resonate with Miss Rumphius and Home in the Woods, they will enjoy Missouri, too.
A Final Message From the Author: It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your “Missouri”
After reading this book, I hope children, especially those struggling with any type of hardship, will feel less alone. I want the book to inspire them to hold onto hope amidst trials.
I want teachers to find a book with a profound message that can teach more than just comprehension skills.
Plus, I hope it inspires readers to pursue their dreams with quiet tenacity, patience, and perseverance, despite their circumstances.
Lastly, I hope readers see through the publishing of Missouri that it’s never too late to chase forgotten dreams. It’s never too late to pursue your own “Missouri.”
