PLYMOUTH — The morning Whiskey Joe wriggled out of his harness and disappeared, his owner Jill Andra Young could only imagine where the Basenji’s paws might take him.
The retired show dog, who’s lived with Young at her Old Village home for about three years, was gone for several hours before he got back home safely. The adventure stuck in Young’s mind.
“It bothered me,” she said. “I wondered what he did while he was gone.”
That unanswered question grew into “Whiskey Joe Gets Lost,” Young’s debut children’s book released this month.
The story follows a mischievous dog as he navigates neighborhoods, playgrounds and city streets before spotting a familiar fountain – much like the one in Plymouth’s Kellogg Park – a landmark he knows well from walks with his owner.
From there, Whiskey Joe makes his way to the police station, where his microchip helps reunite him with his “mama.”
“The moral of the story,” Young said, “is always have your pets microchipped so they can get home.”
A Plymouth resident since 1982, Young adopted Whiskey Joe after losing her previous Basenji, Henry. She’s loved the quirky catlike breed since she was a teenager, she said, drawn to their independence, intelligence and the fact that “they don’t bark.”
‘It was an accident’
After studying at the Center for Creative Studies, Young ran her own commercial photography business in downtown Plymouth for 25 years, specializing in pet portraits.
She never intended to become a children’s book author.
“It was an accident,” she said. “I created a Snapfish (photo) book just for myself to kind of work out creatively what might’ve happened to Whiskey Joe when he went missing. When I posted the cover on Facebook, everyone’s like, ‘Wow, this is fabulous. Did you write a children’s book? And I said, no, no, no. But the more people I talked to, the more apparent it became that maybe I’d stumbled onto something.”
Young eventually learned how to publish the book through Amazon and began preparing for a launch event after friends and neighbors encouraged her to share Whiskey Joe’s story more widely.
While “Whiskey Joe Gets Lost” doesn’t mention Plymouth by name, its inspiration is clear.
“People look at it, they’re like, ‘This is Plymouth,’” Young said. “And I’m like, well, yeah, kind of, because that’s where I live. That’s where he got away.”
Young will host a launch and signing for “Whiskey Joe Gets Lost” from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at EG Nicks in downtown Plymouth.
Books will be available for purchase, at the event, and is also available on Amazon.
Contact reporter Laura Colvin: lcolvin@hometownlife.com