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Date: 5/26/2021
CHICOPEE – Chalaine Kilduff, a Chicopee native born and raised in Aldenville, recently added author to her resume when she published her first children’s book called “Sit. Stay. Love. Life Lessons From a Doggie.”
In high school, Kilduff moved with her family to Louisiana and, since then, has lived in over eight states. Now living in Connecticut, she works in advertising. Kilduff said she has been writing her whole life and always knew she wanted to publish a book.
It wasn’t until she began working for the Chick-Fil-A company that Kilduff thought about writing a children’s book. While working for Chick-Fil-A, Kilduff planned many in-store events, kid’s activities and wrote the content on the kid’s meal bags.
“That kind of opened my eyes to a new world and I just, personally, think that investing in kids is so important especially because the world that we live in is a scary place. So that’s kind of how I decided to write my children’s book and where I am now,” she said.
“Sit. Stay. Love. Life Lessons From a Doggie” was inspired by Kilduff’s love for dogs and the loss of her yellow Labrador Retriever who passed away from cancer.
“I kind of wanted a way to pay tribute to him,” she said.
She then decided to write a book teaching kids life lessons from a dog’s perspective.
“They can teach us so much and they’re just the best. They’re so loyal and they’re so loving and no matter what you come home and they bring a smile to your face,” said Kilduff. “So I was like, you know what, dogs can teach us so much and kids love animals so the book is all about different Labradors teaching kids life lessons.”
The book was written entirely by Kilduff and illustrated by Sally Brodermann. Since it was released in Feb. 2021, it has topped several categories on Amazon, including the Best Sellers List.
Kilduff said that one of the best parts of this experience has been seeing such a great response from readers.
“I loved writing it, but my favorite thing has definitely been getting to hear what people think about the book,” she said.
On May 15, Kilduff hosted a book signing at Hot Oven Cookies in Springfield. She said that the event was successful and that the store even sold out of cookies. She will be having another signing at Goodworks Coffee House on June 12 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. with a live book reading at 11 a.m..
Those who attend the signing will be able to buy a book and receive a cookie through the “Cookie and Bookie Bundle.” Kilduff said that Goodworks will be making their specialty peanut butter blossoms.
Books will be available to purchase at the event or can be purchased in advance on Amazon, Walmart, Target and the Barnes and Noble websites.
Kilduff said that she loved meeting new people at Hot Oven Cookies and looks forward to meeting more at Goodworks.
“People love to talk about their dogs and that is so fun for me because I love dogs. Getting to meet new people, hear their stories and hear how a dog has impacted their life is neat to me,” she said.
Kilduff already has plans to continue the “Sit. Stay. Love.” series through a second book. The sequel will feature a variety of dogs and not just Labradors, according to Kilduff.
“My hope for this next book is that people can look through the pages and think ‘Oh, this looks like my dog,’” said Kilduff.
Those interested in staying up to date on Kilduff and the “Sit. Stay. Love.” series are encouraged to visit her website at https://www.sitstayloveseries.com/ or on Instagram at “sitstayloveseries.”