Last updated: Thursday April 17, 2008, EDT 6:36 AM
Emma Jackson, a Northern Highlands Regional High School freshman from Upper Saddle River, was hoping for extra credit in English class. But she ended up playing school librarian for her classmates when she pulled out a mock-up of her children's book, "A Home for Dixie," which will be in stores Tuesday.
"They started yelling, 'Story time! Story time!' " said the 15-year-old author. The class gathered in a circle, with permission from the teacher, and Emma began reading her own words aloud.
It was an exciting moment for the first-time book writer, but "I got called 'Pippi Longstocking' for a week," she said ruefully, referring to the school-aged redhead featured in the Astrid Lindgren children's books.
By Page 6 of "A Home for Dixie" (Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books, $16.99), at Emma's first appearance, the comparison becomes clear.
The illustrations in this picture book consist of photographs of a strawberry-blond Emma in pigtails and jeans, playing with a redbone coonhound puppy. But the real star of the work is her canine co-protagonist, Dixie, a lovable pup that Emma and her family adopted last March from rescue shelter Aunt Mary's Doghouse in Hope. The puppy is shown, only a month after its adoption, so lively and eager she's almost jumping off the page.
The book tells the story of Emma's quest for dog ownership. While many children have begged their parents for a dog, and some have their wishes come true, few find their story resulting in a children's book. In this case, it's because Emma is not just any teenager: Her mother is Kate Jackson, the editor in chief of HarperCollins Children's Books.
She's also "a 15-year-old with a point of view," said editor Maria Modugno, who worked with Emma in a relatively short time frame. Emma's age "did not factor into it," Modugno said — except for the fact that a list of questions she sent by e-mail was answered in bright pink print.
The story came together with relative ease: As a young only child, Emma saw other people walking their pets in public and asked her parents for a puppy. Instead, she was given a goldfish, a hamster and a guinea pig in succession.
"Probably mostly 'cause they didn't think I would take care of [a dog,]" said Emma of her parents.
Though she loved all her pets, it just wasn't the same. "You can't really take them out to play and talk to them like you can with a dog," she said.
About two years ago, Emma's parents finally agreed to her request. Finding the dog, however, took the family another year as they explored adoption options. It was this journey — and the irresistible cuteness of the dog in question — that inspired the book.
"We found out that there are 4 million dogs that are left in shelters every year," said Emma. According to the Humane Society, a combined 6 million to 8 million dogs and cats enter U.S. shelters annually. Three million to 4 million of these animals — or about half — are euthanized when shelters hit capacity.
The appropriately named Dixie was one of three puppies born in a litter in South Carolina. The dogs traveled up the coast from a shelter to Aunt Mary's no-kill facility, thanks to a string of volunteers, Emma explained.
"It's almost like an underground railroad," she said. "They give the dogs to one person, who drives them about 100 miles, and they're given to the next person who drives another hundred miles."
Mary Cody, owner of Aunt Mary's Doghouse, received a Bravo for Bravery medal from the American Red Cross in 2007 for her rescue work. To ensure a proper match between pet and owner, Cody wouldn't allow the Jacksons to take the puppy home right away. Instead, she asked the family to sleep on it.
"She doesn't want people making fast decisions that they might regret," said Emma of Cody. Although the Jacksons wanted to take Dixie home, "it was definitely the responsible thing to do."
Impressed by Cody's work, Emma decided to donate all her royalties from the book to Aunt Mary's Doghouse. After all, getting Dixie was reward enough.
"She gives me so much love every day," said Emma of her dog, now a 60-pound yearling. "She's not perfect, obviously. We had to train her, and she chewed up my flip-flops, but it's definitely worth it."
A year into the relationship, Emma has learned to love Dixie's idiosyncrasies, such as snacking on ice cubes and sharing carrots with Wilbur, the guinea pig. The pup also has been a big hit with young children at Emma's karate school, where part of her duties as a black belt is to help teach.
"I like little kids, and I want to be a teacher," said Emma. "So I was always really excited when the kids would come up to me and say, 'Aw, look at your doggie! She's so cute.' "
E-mail: shih@northjersey.com
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