Sometimes, what one needs is sitting across town with a paint brush at the ready.
That’s what happened for longtime Mercer Island resident and surgeon Kathleen Stickney, who was searching for an artist to help with the animal adventure story she was penning. In stepped then-Mercer Island High School sophomore Sophia Scull four years ago after Stickney inquired on Mercer Island Next Door.
Fast-forward to the present and the Stickney-Scull full-color collaboration, “First Watch,” was released on Nov. 20 and is available through Amazon at https://tinyurl.com/y5ncaolp. The book is geared toward middle graders ages 7-13 and features the canine hero Charlie, a Shiba Inu.
The release coincides with Stickney’s retirement after 34 years as a Seattle ear, nose and throat surgeon and Scull’s 2020 graduation from MIHS. Scull, 18, will be starting her college journey at Dartmouth next year.
“I really wanted to get the attention of a certain crowd of young people. I wanted to offer them a hero and a role model to watch for the planet and be involved,” said Stickney, 62, who delved into writing when her two boys graduated from MIHS and headed off to college. Stickney describes her first book as a fun empty nester project and said more books may be on the horizon.
The 162-page, Outskirts Press release follows Charlie, who sails into a tropical harbor and joins a band of canine surfers. The dogs notice things that aren’t right, like litter, oil spills and animal cruelty and they soon take action against poachers of baby turtles.
“I’ve always appreciated the environment, too, ‘cause my grandparents are strong environmentalists in Wenatchee,” said Scull, who’s loved art since she was a child and began doing a lot of painting from the age of 12 and onward. She hopes to minor in visual arts and possibly major in English at Dartmouth.
Scull contributed 20-something striking illustrations to “First Watch,” including paintings of Charlie along with a German shepherd, two dalmatians, two Labradors, turtles and more. The cover features Charlie standing inside of the eye of Max, a standoffish cat, and the two eventually develop a relationship.
“First Watch” is a hopeful and exciting story, and it’s been fun putting her painting skills into play, Scull said. One Amazon reviewer noted that “First Watch” is an educational read-aloud story with wild and beautiful illustrations.
“It’s super cool to see it physically instead of just digitally and to be able to read through the entire book with the illustrations next to it and see where they fit in,” said Scull, who, like Charlie, has been doing some traveling of her own and soaking up nature at a host of United States national parks since graduation.
It’s been a bonding experience for Stickney and Scull, who met copious times at the north end Starbucks to discuss how the project was progressing while sharing pictures and story ideas. Aside from book talk, they discovered that Stickney’s sons had some of the same teachers that Scull did at West Mercer Elementary.
“She’s keeping me a little more cool,” Stickney said with a chuckle. “She had this very wonderful hairstyle with streaks of color, I have pictures of it. I was like, ‘All right, that is so awesome.’”
Life outside of the operating room has been a big change for Stickney, who’s looking forward to seeing what’s next on her agenda.
“This is kind of a nice bridge for me and I look forward to writing more and possibly collaborating with Sophia, although she might be a famous artist by then,” Stickney said as the two shared a laugh.
