A 93-year-old Lebanon County woman celebrates publication of children’s book

A children’s book by a 93-year-old Lebanon County woman comforts readers who are dealing with the loss of a beloved pet through its narrative and illustrations, which imagine the author’s late dog together with her other late pets in a happy place.

Katherine Hoopes, a violinist, widow, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and now an author, spoke with LebTown about Heidi’s Tale of Love, a 28-page children’s book illustrated by MJ McFalls and published by Archway Publishing this past June.

Raised in Chester County, Hoopes attended Avon Grove High School, studied violin performance at a music conservatory in Philadelphia, and performed with local symphonies.

That is, until about a decade into her marriage, when her husband, the late Rev. Warren G. Hoopes Jr., told her that the public school where he taught was in need of a music teacher. “I went in to be the sub, and I liked it so much that I went back to school and got my certification to teach in public school,” Hoopes said.

With a teaching certificate in tow, Hoopes taught music in the Pequea Valley and Elizabethtown Area school districts as well as a music conservatory in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

“I never really had a dream of becoming a writer, but after this dog died, Heidi, I just wrote the story,” Hoopes said, estimating it was around 2005, before she and her husband returned to Lebanon County.

“This is a story about our family pets. And it goes from Heidi on down through various pets that we had. … And the whole purpose of the story was to say that you didn’t have to say goodbye to your pets.”

Hoopes put the story out of sight — and mind — until she found it while looking through her late husband’s paperwork with her family about a year and a half ago. She told LebTown that one of her daughters told her, “I think you ought to try to publish this story,” which inspired her to publish the story now known as Heidi’s Tale of Love.

The first step in the process was finding an illustrator. Hoopes connected with McFalls, a Myerstown artist with more than four decades of experience in various media. “And without her, it would have been not nearly as impressive,” she said.

Hoopes provided McFalls with photographs of Heidi and her other late pets to reference while creating the illustrations. Once the illustrations were complete, which took McFalls a bit longer than expected due to a health issue, Hoopes considered her options for publishing.

“I thought I would self-publish, but I have a friend in the area who has published, and he said, ‘Don’t do it. Get a publisher,'” she said, with his point being that her book could reach a wider audience since it was not solely focused on Lebanon County. “It was his suggestion that led me to Archway.”

The publication process also involved preparing the story and illustrations, sending them to the publisher online, which Hoopes was “utterly flabbergasted” to learn had replaced sending the materials in an envelope in the mail to the publisher, and receiving a sample copy before the children’s book was released on June 19.

Hoopes said her family, friends, and fellow Lebanon countians, including two English teachers, were instrumental in each step of the publication process.

Heidi’s Tale of Love is available for purchase through Hoopes, Archway Publishing, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. It is also available to borrow through the Myerstown Community Library as well as a library in Cape Cod.

Hoopes told LebTown that she has had many people buy her children’s book after losing a beloved pet. Ironically, her youngest daughter’s family lost their beloved cat on the morning of the interview. “Now she’s with all the pets,” Hoopes said.

Hoopes just ordered another shipment of the children’s book for her upcoming book signing, which will take place at the Blessing of the Animals at Palmyra First United Methodist Church on Saturday, Oct. 4, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. “That seemed like a good place to have the story of Heidi,” she said.

Hoopes herself is a member of St. Luke’s Church, where she serves as a lecturer, a member of a prayer group for people with immediate needs, and a volunteer who helps prepare the after-church refreshments on a monthly basis.

When asked how her faith influenced her writing of Heidi’s Tale of Love, Hoopes said, “Whatever you want to believe about where they go, I join with John Wesley, who always said he would see his horse someday, his beloved horse. That because our pets were given to us and brought so much happiness into our lives, that perhaps we will see them again.”

In addition to spending time with her close-knit family, volunteering at her church, and promoting her children’s book, Hoopes continues to be involved with One Achord, a group of singers and instrumentalists that performs once a month and serves as an outreach organization of the Harmonia Music Association, which she co-founded soon after returning to Lebanon County.

While she never dreamt of becoming a writer, Hoopes has experience writing songs. “I guess maybe inside yourself, you want to bring things forth. It can be music, or it can be words. I’ve written words to songs. I’ve written actual songs, as well. So, maybe they do go together. I never really thought about it.”

When asked about future writing projects, the newly published author said she has thought about writing a memoir or another children’s book — this one, about horseshoe crabs.