Will you tell us briefly about your book?
The book is based on a true story of my daughter and her pony that I watched unfold before my eyes. A pony named Me Too comes to the barn where the girl with the long blond hair rides. She doesn’t have a pony but she wants one more than anything. She gets to ride Me Too over the summer and the girl and the pony bond. At the end of the summer Me Too is sold and the two are separated, but they never forget each other. Years later when the girl is grown and married she dreams of Me Too and sets out to find her. The quest seems impossible, but their reunion is magical.
What inspired you to write this book?
Me Too ended up in my backyard. One day I was mucking stalls looking at the pony, marveling that she was back in our lives. I was thinking about how unlikely this was that my daughter would ever find this pony again. When the pony was found again she was in a very unhappy situation. We don’t know what happened to her but she had gotten very mean. Pat had told us that when she had that pony she could tell that someone had loved that pony once. I believe that pony called my daughter in her dreams. She remembered when she was loved. This is a story of the timelessness of love, the power of dreams and to never ever give up. It was a story that needed to be told. So I put down the pitchfork and went in the house and wrote the story.
Had you ever written a book before?
I’ve never written a book before and I never saw myself writing children’s books. Now I have more books in process and I see stories all around me.
Was it difficult to write and publish a book?
Writing a picture book is more difficult than I imagined. I worked with an editor who kept telling me to use less words. I found it hard to tell a story without using words. The artist that did the illustrations is actually in South Africa. She worked with the editor and the art director. She did an amazing job of capturing the emotion of the story. It took a whole team of people to create this book. I never could have done this on my own.
Where is the pony now? Is she still with the girl with the long blonde hair?
The pony has been gone for a number of years. My daughter and Me Too were together for 9 wonderful years. My daughter and I have told her story of Me Too over and over again. It’s heartwarming to see it in a book and to know that the memory of Me Too lives on. But more than that we hope it inspires people to never give up on their dreams no matter how impossible they seem.
Thank you Kathy for sharing your story with us!
