My first children’s book, “The Fable of the Farmer and the Fish,” was very well received, especially by parents and children concerned about the awesome California Delta and preserving it for future generations.

There was still another story I wanted to tell related to the California Delta, and that was the current plight of the native salmon species and what the State should be doing to reverse the current trend of over-exporting water from the Delta to the South and causing the salmon’s demise.

This story is about two little salmon, Sassy and Trip, as they go on their adventure, learning about their purpose in life. (A fun side-note – my granddaughter Serenity goes by the nickname “Sassy” and her little brother Sojourn’s nickname is “Trip,” the two little salmon in my story.)

Our story starts out as the little salmon hatch.

The mother salmon laid her eggs in the cool river water. She laid a hundred eggs in the nest and then, satisfied, she sighed and swam away. She had fulfilled her purpose.

In the spring, the tiny fish hatched.

“Hi. My name is Sassy,” said one little fish to the others. “What’s your name?” The brothers and sisters introduced themselves and began to swim around and play. One little fish was smaller than the others and two big boy fish were teasing him.

“Stop that,” Sassy told the two boy fish. “He’s our brother too.”

“Sorry,” they both said.

“What’s your name, little guy?” Sassy asked.

“Trip,” he said.

“You stick close to me. Let’s go have fun.”

“Sassy the Salmon” is a story of hope – hope for common sense to come to the forefront and hope for those in charge to start reversing the negative trends and restore the Delta to the healthy and clean river it should be.

My daughter, Kristin, talked me into illustrating this book. She picked water colors as the mode since, she said, it’s about water, after all. I hadn’t painted with water colors in years, but she found “how to” videos, went to art supply stores with me, and together we started. She encouraged me, saying she liked the art and so I continued.

For me, it was a project of hope and love.