Grief, Dogs & Storytelling with Author Sally Hill Mills

Sally Hill Mills learned to write children's books by writing with children, as a creative writing teacher in elementary schools in Albuquerque. She learned from kids what keeps them interested in a story – relatable characters, obstacles that have to be overcome, and action. 

Her first book, Jimmy: Toughest. Dog. Ever. grew out of Mills' experience as a special education teacher. She saw that kids who left the room for "special" classes or who had visible disabilities feared being labeled and not belonging to the larger group. When her real-life dog died, Mills realized that, as hard as it would be, her dog's death offered an opportunity to take the character, Jimmy, on another, even more, difficult journey: through grief and loss into recovery and re-connection.  In her second book, Jimmy: Toughest Times Ever Mills drew upon her own experiences with childhood grief to write the book.  Kirkus called this book, "A lovely, resonant, child-appropriate tale about loss and the cycle of grief and healing."