Emily Mains took inspiration from Tom & Jerry cartoons.
The legendary cat and mouse duo inspired her to write, and illustrate, her children’s book “Arlo Helps A Friend.”
“I’ve always wanted to be a writer, ever since fifth grade,” the Lutz native, who graduated from Steinbrenner High School in 2021, said in an interview with The Laker/Lutz News. “From there, I found my passion for writing.
“I mostly write young-adult fiction, but I have enjoyed writing children’s books because my style is a little more light-hearted. I also feel there’s a lot that kids need to hear and have not been told yet, so I just felt a calling to it.”
In “Arlo Helps A Friend,” Lucia is a young girl who has just entered the foster care system and doesn’t want to play with other children at her school. She’s worried about living with foster parents and living in a new house, which leads to her getting into trouble at her new school.
Then she meets Arlo, a cute creature who wants to help Lucia feel better. He tells her the story of how he was adopted through the foster care system and shares how he overcame the struggles he faced.
“They become friends, and he helps Lucia,” Mains said.
“Foster Care has always been something that has been in my heart,” Mains added. Mains’ mom is a Guardian ad Litem, which is a group of statewide volunteers who represent abused, abandoned and neglected children in court and the community.
“She has stood up for kids in court,” she added. “After hearing some of their stories, and what those kids needed, I was inspired to write something that would really help them.”
Mains, now 20, is a creative writing major at Southeastern University in Lakeland. She launched her book at her college on April 24 after spending about eight months getting published through Xulon Press.
She’s had some online book sales and said she’s seen plenty of interest in the book and its subject. She brought the book to display at the 28th Annual National Foster Care Conference in Orlando in early June.
She noticed some kids looking at it and “they really seemed to love it,” she said.
“I’ve been blessed with the sales so far,” she added. “I think we’re getting places with it and working on marketing it out there.”
The book began as a school project in a creative writing class at Steinbrenner and it took her a whole semester to write. However, Mains said she designed Arlo back during her sophomore year.
“He’s his own creature — he’s an Arlo,” she quipped.
“But it was just a fun project,” she added. “With the first design, my family fell in love with him and they thought he was adorable, so here he is now with his own book.”
As the young writer heads back to Southeastern to start the upcoming semester, Mains is currently working on a young adult fiction writing project.
Still, her heart remains with Arlo. She has no immediate plans for a sequel, but she knows Arlo’s story is far from finished.
“I think there is definitely more in store for Arlo and his friends. I foresee that.
“Because he’s Arlo, and I hope kids will love him.”
Arlo Helps A Friend
Details: Written and illustrated by Lutz native Emily Mains, Lucia is a young girl who has just entered the foster care system and doesn’t want to play with other children at her school. She’s worried about living with foster parents and living in a new home and she’s been getting into trouble at her new school. But then she meets a cute creature named Arlo. Arlo wants to help Lucia feel better, so he tells the story of how he was adopted through the foster care system and shares how he overcame the struggles he faced.
The book is available for purchase on Amazon, at tinyurl.com/3ad3wsvn.
Published August 16, 2023
