Maggie Sullivan’s cat Max, a hairless sphynx, has had his exploits immortalized in print and he’s become quite a phenomenon as the subject of an Amazon bestseller. The beautifully illustrated children’s book is the proud offering of the retired teacher, who taught for 21 years at Our Lady of Sorrows in Sturgeon Falls.
While her book ‘The Story of Max’ was launched on June 24, Sullivan hopes to be able to offer a reading and signing event on August 22nd in Sturgeon Falls, as soon she can secure a venue where safe social distancing is assured. She is looking forward to sharing her achievement with her friends and neighbours in the community. “The book is (…) fictional, kind of based on my cat Max, who came to live with us. At first he was a bit of a bully to the other cats in the house.” The story, while sweet and fun to read on its own, has a dual purpose of guiding children through difficulties. “What I’ve done with the story is create a number of entry points that can lead into critical conversations with children.”
This is Maggie Sullivan’s first book, but she’s already started her second, and children’s literature is currently her genre of choice. “I’ve had the story in my mind for about 4 years now. I was teaching up until 2018 and that’s when I took my retirement. I taught at Our Lady of Sorrows for 21 years and then I transferred to North Bay. I wasn’t too thrilled with the drive, so decided to retire.” She relates that the idea was brewing in her mind for some time when, suddenly, “The whole story downloaded into my head. I found a publisher – it is self-published. I’ve been working on it for the past year. I found an illustrator through a workshop I had gone to. [Sarah Winn of Belleville] had never done illustrations before and I didn’t know how to go about doing it. We muddled through it… and the illustrations are gorgeous!”
