“The Curious Life of Cookie the Cat” could have a guide launch Saturday

First-time Midland writer Michelle Vouaux’s new guide shares the story of a real-life cat with the “superpower” of serving to individuals join.

“The Curious Life of Cookie the Cat” could have a guide launch this Saturday at Shop With Moxie at 4000 Jefferson (beforehand referred to as Joyful Tantrum Recess).

The 27-page guide, written in rhyme, tells readers the weird journey of Cookie, an initially stray cat who was meant to be a Christmas reward for a granddaughter of Vouaux’s neighbors, Jeannie and Dick Touvell. Instead, Cookie grew to become a present to the Touvells – and, by extension, to their neighborhood.

“This was by no means within the plan of life to writer a guide. We’re very excited,” mentioned Vouaux, who drew a variety of inspiration from the third-grade college students she mentors as a paraprofessional at Plymouth Elementary.

As Dick Touvell explains it, throughout December 2021, he and his spouse secretly stored a male cat named Cookie at their home in order that their daughter, Katie Baker, may shock her now 8-year-old daughter, Hannah, with a cat for Christmas.

There was only one drawback. Cookie had his personal secret.

The cat had discovered a passageway below the kitchen sink that led into the partitions of the Touvells’ Fifties home. 

As a outcome, Cookie would not be seen for a number of hours at a time, however he all the time emerged at evening for meals and to make use of his litter field.

The Touvells stored their neighbors up to date on their sightings of Cookie.

“He lived in that wall for about six weeks,” Dick Touvell mentioned. “The entire neighborhood was type of enthralled about the entire thing.”

“His superpower is ‘The Cookie Affect,'” Vouaux writes within the guide. “Helping pals and others all the time join!”

Meanwhile, with Christmas nearing and Cookie nonetheless making himself scarce, Baker was capable of finding a special cat to present as a present to Hannah.

Of course, for Jeannie and Dick, this meant that Cookie was now all theirs. Fortunately, they had been capable of seal off the partitions.

“We had been been petless for fairly just a few years after our daughters left. Now he is change into a part of our day by day routine,” Dick mentioned. “He’s like several cat. His common sleep time is 16 hours a day. He visits each window in each path.”

For Vouaux, turning into an writer has been an journey she has shared with her Plymouth college students.

“I’m working with the scholars on their (writing) processes and their tales daily. I pulled within the driveway (someday) and thought, ‘I’ve obtained to write down (Cookie’s story) down.’ I had scrap paper in my automobile. I introduced the children the story to indicate them the subsequent day.

“They gave me perception as to advertising, the web site, and the type of the illustrations. They had been energetic contributors (within the writing course of),” Vouaux mentioned of her college students.

Plymouth third-grade trainer Pam Taylor additionally gave Vouaux encouragement and steering in writing the guide.

“She’s a Gerstacker Award winner and an exceptional trainer,” Vouaux mentioned.

There’s another cool connection – the guide was illustrated by Vouaux’s husband Pete’s sister, Karen Sharp, a former Auburn resident who now lives in Traverse City. A self-taught artist, Sharp had by no means illustrated a guide earlier than and did not have a variety of expertise drawing cats.

“It’s my remedy. I like to do artwork,” Sharp defined. “It took a variety of follow – I drew tons of of cats in pencil drawings. Cookie slowly developed as a result of I didn’t know something about cat bone construction and muscle construction.”

 She ended up placing different-colored stars throughout Cookie’s physique.

“The stars had been almost an afterthought. It was type of serendipity,” Sharp mentioned. “The stars are all added with stencils. I needed Cookie to be all-inclusive. I didn’t need Cookie to be a boy or a lady; I simply needed Cookie to be Cookie. I felt like the celebrities helped do this.”

Sharp’s husband, Ron Sharp, additionally contributed by combining the illustrations and the textual content in preparation for printing.

Vouaux is grateful to Shop With Moxie proprietor Julia Kepler for offering a venue for Saturday’s guide launch. The retailer can be near the Vouauxs’ and Touvell’s neighborhood.

“I simply need individuals to go to the shop. Julia has put a ton into it, and it’s a nice retailer,” Vouaux mentioned.

At the launch, Vouaux will do readings of her guide at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., midday and 1 p.m. Signed copies of the guide will probably be available for buy. Sharp can even be readily available.