Hey There!
This past week, my illustrator, Maria Motta, sent me the final illustrations for my first children’s book, and I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever forget the feeling of opening those pages for the first time. There was my story, but suddenly, there was also a world. A real little world that I had imagined for so long was finally sitting right in front of me.
When I first wrote the book, I was convinced the title had to be Stella Sails the Schuylkill. As a teacher, I loved the alliteration, and I thought it would be such a fun way to sneak a little wordplay into the story. I was pretty attached to it.
Then Maria sent me the illustrations.
And as I turned the pages, something happened that I completely did not expect. I started seeing Stella differently. She wasn’t just the dog I had written about anymore. She was Stella Rae. Her personality, her sass, her curiosity, her little adventures... they were all there on the page.
And somewhere between looking at those illustrations and smiling at a dog who has somehow managed to become the star of her own children’s book, I realized it.
Stella Sails the Schuylkill wasn’t her title anymore.
She needed something that felt a little more like her.
And that’s when Stella Rae’s Great Escape came to me.
It reminded me that sometimes, the title is the very last part of the story to reveal itself. You can spend so much time trying to figure out exactly what a book is supposed to be, only to realize that the story has been quietly telling you all along.
So, meet the new title of my very first children’s book:
✨ Stella Rae’s Great Escape ✨
And somehow, it feels like it was always supposed to be hers. 🐾
