Erica Larence, a Motion Pictures major and member of the Class of 2013, recently published a book, Caine and Mabel. The book is about a girl who adopts a rescue dog after her best friend moves away. Larence said that the idea for the book came from her rescue dog, Caine, who is named after the Miami Hurricanes.
Larence wrote the book in January of 2015 and then edited it for about a month. In March, she found Vi Pham, the illustrator of the book.
“It was a really cool process because I got to see my characters and my story come to life,” Larence said.
After the illustrations were completed in May, Larence started a Kickstarter campaign to cover the costs of the book and reached out to rescue organizations to spread the word. Larence said that she had the intention of self-publishing until Jasmine Cabanaw from Green Bamboo Publishing expressed interest in publishing her book. The book was finally released in November 2015.
A part of the proceeds of Caine and Mabel will go to an animal charity. Larence sees the book as a great way to teach children and their parents about animal rescue and an opportunity to raise money for an animal charity.
“I wanted to do something to help bring awareness to animal rescue so that I can help other dogs, like mine, find homes,” Larence said.
The UM grad is now a student at Boston University’s law school.
Larence said that she hopes readers will take away from the book how important animal rescue is and the happiness and healing that dogs can bring into one’s life. Only 35 percent of dogs in shelters will find homes and Larence hopes that educating people on animal rescue and choosing to adopt animals from shelters as opposed to purchasing them from breeders will help reduce the amount of homeless animals.
To purchase Caine and Mabel, please visit http://greenbamboopublishing.com/order/
