by Chrysa Smith

Many years ago, I was browsing a bookstore, and something caught my eye.

It was a journal with a burgundy cover, illustration of a little mouse on the bottom right corner, and a jagged piece missing from the same side, as if the little mouse chewed off a chunk of that journal. How clever! I put it in my basket and checked out.

Now, I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do with this cute journal. I had grown weary of the journaling phase several years prior, but something about it was so delightful, it tickled me. And I thought, someday I’m going to write a story about a little mouse.

Fast forward many years, to sitting in a church pew. As can sometimes happen, I was daydreaming during the sermon, and it hit me. What a cute placement for a mouse—a church mouse. I didn’t know anything about the roots of the church mouse story, but I had a character and a setting. Now all I needed is the story—yah, the easy, part.

Fast forward several more years, through some ups and downs, change in churches, and ordinary everyday–and then Covid. I was most angry, rebellious, reclusive, non-conformant and bored. So a strange thing happened. My faith grew stronger. Despite my lifelong involvement with prayer and church and its congregations, nothing has ever come close to this closeness, spirituality, oneness with God. Finding God is often born from despair. Don’t think I was quite there, but it was certainly more on that trajectory than kicks and giggles. And it was in this that it finally came to me. My faith grew strong. I believe others can benefit from this. I write children’s book. Why not do a children’s book on faith and how it’s an important thing in a person’s life. In my humble opinion, the earlier this lesson is learned, the better.

So I now introduce Look Up, Little Mouse—a K-2 story about faith, delivered through a little church mouse, his adventures,  his fears, his interactions and finally, his lesson. Like me, it took a bit for him to grasp the concept and jump in. When he did, it was his salvation, as it is for many.

Preorders are being taken at [email protected].