The best stories are based on truth. Henrietta and the Case of the Missing Eggs is based on a true story! Henrietta was one of my favorite hens whom we purchased in spring of 2020. She was sassy and tough, and she was the perfect lead chicken for my book, Henrietta and the Case of the Missing Eggs.

A few years ago, we had a raccoon problem. A raccoon would creep onto our little homestead night after night, and each night she would terrorize my chickens and ducks! Sadly, we lost several birds that summer until we were finally able to take care of the raccoon and better protect our chickens. That summer full of chicken terror inspired me to write a story, one that could also provide education on keeping chickens safe from predators.

Before I could provide education on safe chicken keeping, I needed to turn our chicken tragedy into a story that children could enjoy. While children of farming families are exposed to and used to the death of livestock, most children are not. So I had to think of a way to tame the story of our raccoon fiasco. I decided that instead of the chickens and ducks going to the great coop in the sky, they would simply pack their bags and leave. This kept the story interesting, added personality to the supporting characters, and softened the aspect of animal death for readers who would be bothered by that topic.

I also wanted to keep this story based on my actual chickens. I designed all of the chickens in the book after our actual hens (all of whom have since passed away either due to old age or that summer of raccoon terror). A few names were changed to fit the theme of the story, but Henrietta, Betsy, Buff, Rosie, and Sylvia were all real chickens. In fact, Buff the rooster is still crowing and ruling the roost!

After re-writing the story, softening harsh realities, and applying large personalities to each chicken, I created all of the illustrations digitally on my iPad. I used Procreate to create each illustration, using digital watercolor and ink brushes to create the characters that I love. But let me tell you, creating facial expressions on an animal with a beak and no eyebrows is no small feat! It was a lot of work, a lot of sketching, and a lot of re-doing sketches, but I am incredibly satisfied with my chicken illustrations.

The last few pages of my book include basics on creating a safe chicken coop for chickens, and ways to deter a raccoon, should one find your coop and decide your chickens would make a nice meal! I won’t spoil the story for you, but deterring a raccoon isn’t as difficult as you might think!

You can find Henrietta and the Case of the Missing Eggs on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Many thanks to my husband for assisting me with the edits of this book, and to my mother for additional edits and babysitting so I could finish the book. Thank you to my children for being my test group for the story itself and the illustrations! And, of course, thank you to the chickens who inspired this book, may they rest in peace.

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And if you grow to love Henrietta and her friends as much as I did, check out the companion coloring book! This coloring book is available on Amazon linked here.