Did you know that October 4 is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi? As a saint, Francis seems to beloved by many people beyond the Roman Catholic Church. Many churches hold a “blessing of animals” ceremony on his feast day, and his statue frequently decorates gardens. You don’t have to be religious to respect his love of animals and the natural world.
As a child, animals were one of my special interests, so St. Francis was always one of my favorite saints. I loved the story of him “taming” the wolf of Gubbio. I’m glad I got to include Francis and the wolf in A is for Anthony, my booklet about saints and animals.
It’s almost Halloween, and in the kidlit world, that means it’s time for Susanna Leonard Hill’s annual kidlit writing contest, Halloweensie. Rules here!
This year’s prompt words were perfect, because I’ve got werewolves on the brain. My current adult work-in-progress features a werewolf. But Luna, the wolf you’ll meet today, is much younger!
“The Silver Chain”
“Full moon tonight! Don’t forget your bracelet!”
“Aw, Mom! That’s just superstition.” But Luna snapped the silver chain around her wrist before grabbing her bucket.
Luna and Sadie trick-or-treated along both sides of the street until they reached the old Foley house.
“Dare ya to ring the doorbell,” Sadie whispered.
Luna shook her head.
“Frightened?”
“Nuh uh!” Luna marched up to the door, dragging Sadie along.
Ding dong! The door creaked open— and Mr. Foley bared his fangs. Vampire?!
A is for Anthony was selected as an Honorable Mention in the Spiritual/Religious category of the 2023 Purple Dragonfly awards! I’m happy to see this little booklet get some recognition.
Five years ago, I came across this St. Patrick’s Day meme, commemorating Gertrude of Nivelles, who is popularly considered to be the patron saint of cats. Her feast day also being March 17, she is always overshadowed by the more famous patron saint of Ireland.
I had never heard of St. Gertrude of Nivelles before, but the meme got me thinking about all the saints who had close connections to animals: St. Jerome, who lived with a lion; St. Anthony, who preached to the fishes; St. John Bosco and his dog, and so on.
“I bet I could write a picture book about saints who loved animals!” I thought. And that’s how A is for Anthonywas born. Originally, I simply intended to write a collection of a few stories about saints who had animal friends or famous encounters with animals. As I struggled to figure out how best to organize the stories, I had the idea of arranging them alphabetically and making an alphabet of saints. That made my task harder (it’s not easy to find 26 stories about saints and animals!), but the result was worth the work.
At the time, believe it or not, I could find no alphabet books about saints, apart from a very old one by Robert Hugh Benson. Since then, more than one Catholic small press has come out with an ABC of saints, so readers today have more choices. But so far as I know, A is for Anthony is the only alphabet book focused on both saints and animals!
The funny thing about this origin story is that you won’t find Gertrude of Nivelles in my book. It turns out her connection to cats is actually very tenuous, so she was replaced by other saints who had stronger connections to animals.
Writers, it’s not too late to participate in Tara Lazar’s annual idea-generating challenge, StoryStorm. It started off as a challenge specifically for picture book writers, but now it’s broadened and is open to all writers who want to generate new ideas. Learn more about it here. You can register to win prizes now through January 7.
This year, I’m starting off with a couple of ideas that go back to my picture-book writing roots. But I hope to generate some new novel ideas for the upcoming writing year, as well!
Whether you participate in StoryStorm or not, I wish you happy writing in 2023.
