How to Catch a Lobster is such a charming way to tell this story. How did it come about?

Our Brooksville neighbors Ed and Anne Black invited my husband and me to go lobstering with them on Memorial Day weekend, 2006. I asked if I could photograph them in action. My nephew (7), had visited us from Colorado that summer and he became transfixed by lobsters. He had picked out a lobster from a tank, held it in his hand, and then eaten it. He caught a ride on Ed Black’s lobster boat, but he never caught a lobster, to his chagrin. I wanted to make him a little book describing the process. Ed and Anne graciously agreed to let me photograph their every move that day. I took over a hundred photographs. Then came the hard work of culling the best pictures and crafting the story.

So, your nephew was your original audience.

Yes! He was a great audience—a child of keen interests and enormous curiosity, ready to be knocked flat by the sheer wonder of the world. I knew I had to answer all of his questions with language that was simple, straightforward, and snappy. I wanted this little book to be factual and fun. I used all the story telling techniques I knew (I was an English teacher for 25 years):

• Characters—a clever captain, a ready sternwoman, a salty sea dog.

• Setting—the working lobster boat with the backdrop of Penobscot Bay.

• Plot—the hunt for elusive lobsters.

• Sensory details—the sight of many sea creatures, the sound of the Caterpillar diesel engine, the smell of the sea, the feel of a squiggly eel, the taste of a lobster dinner.

• Dialogue—Eeeek! Yikes! Ouch!

• Conflict—You can’t always catch what you want.

• Suspense—Sometimes you catch everything but lobsters.

• Romance—girl lobsters + boy lobsters.

• Pathos—a mother lobster who has lost her thumb.

• Redemption—Lobster thumbs grow back as good as new!

I made a one-of-a-kind book for my nephew—How to Catch a Lobster—and thought I was done.

What happened?

Other family members and friends requested copies of the book, including the Blacks, who wanted one for their grandchildren. I self-published 1,000 copies of How to Catch a Lobster with Custom Museum Publishing of Rockland (now Maine Authors Publishing & Cooperative), and sold it to bookstores and specialty shops up and down the coast of Maine. I was particularly pleased that my book sold as well at Downeast Fishing Gear in Trenton as it did in Bar Harbor tourist shops. Local lobstermen were buying it as well as people from away. Ten years after I hand-made that first book for my nephew, Penobscot Books decided to redesign and republish it, adding a section on lobster lore and a nautical map of Penobscot Bay at the end. I’m thrilled that my little lobster book has a whole new life!

You are an accomplished artist with an avowed love of animals. What kind of work do you produce?

I’ve been drawing commissioned PenPets portraits in pen and ink for the last 20 years—mostly dogs, some cats, the occasional hamster, ferret, love bird, horse. Twelve years ago, I was introduced to relief print making by Siri Beckman at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. It was a one-day workshop and we each carved and printed a linoleum block. I was hooked! Making a relief print is just the opposite of making a pen-and-ink drawing. In print making, I carve out what I don’t want in the image; in drawing, I ink in what I do want. I’ve been drawing, carving, and printing animals ever since—wildlife, livestock, and pets. You may see my pen-and-ink drawings and relief prints on my website (PenPets.com) and at Local Color Gallery in Belfast (localcolorgalleryMaine.com).

What next?

I write poetry as well as make art, and I’m currently working on a book of illustrated animal poems.