For parents Slaine and Dave Hooper, the Creek Fire affected every single aspect of their family’s life. 

Losing their home to the Creek Fire was detrimental to the family of six and the close-knit community of Cressman Road in Shaver Lake. 

“It was like a bit of our world was taken out,” Slaine Hooper said. 

For their three daughters, Lili, 11, Bella, 13, and Audrey, 15, getting to work alongside Susie Harder, a speech language pathologist who works with children and young adults, to create her new book titled “Where’s My House?” has been an opportunity to help others understand what it’s been like to live through this natural disaster. 

The children’s book was created to help support the children and families who lost their homes during the Creek Fire.

As someone who grew up in the Shaver Lake community, Harder said there was a feeling to do much more than just donate to the families who were struggling during this time.

After realizing there weren’t very many resources available to children who have lost their homes in wildfires, she wanted to create something to help them get through this experience. 

“I thought, well OK, let’s go for it. We’ll do this book and it will allow kids to feel seen in their journey and so this cute little story, as much as it’s sweet and empowering and not heavy,  allows for these really specific conversations as kids travel the journey of processing what’s happened [because of the Creek Fire],” Harder said. 

“Where’s My House?” was created to help support children and give back to the community by donating 100% of the book’s proceeds to those who were affected by the Creek Fire. 

Before the book’s publication, children from around the country were actively involved in choosing what illustrations would be published through an online voting-based platform.

Children from California, Colorado, Arizona, Illinois, New York and Florida have been a part of the creation of the book. 

Internationally, students from Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, India, Ethiopia and Australia have also been able to cast their votes for their favorite illustrations in Harder’s project. 

“There’s a French-speaking school up in Montreal that reached out saying they wanted to do it, but they needed it in French, so one weekend I took all of the materials we had done… and with the help of one of the moms there, [we] translated it all into French and then sent it to them so they could use it for their school,” Harder said. 

Harder felt it was important to have children and students actively involved in the process of the book’s publication because it was inspired by their experiences with the Creek Fire of loss and resiliency. 

For Lili, Bella and Audrey, the three couldn’t help but feel grateful and excited to be a part of Harder’s upcoming project. 

“It felt good to be a part of something,” Audrey said. 

Lili and Bella agreed, saying Harder’s book helps people learn more about the experience they’ve gone through with the Creek Fire. 

“People say, ‘Oh I’m so sorry for you,’ but no one will know [what it’s like] unless you walk through it… it’s [the book] showing people what really happened,” Bella said. 

The three girls were able to contribute some of their own illustrations into “Where’s My House?,” one of which included a drawing of their dog’s favorite blanket. 

After learning about the book and the contributions her daughters were able to make in its creation, Slaine felt grateful for this opportunity. 

“Susie is amazing. It makes me want to cry when I think about how loving she is,” she said. 

“To take something like this that has just been heart wrenching, and affected so many people in our community and the kids… she brought something beautiful out of something so tragic.” 

The Junior Author’s Program was born after the creation of “Where’s My House?” and as stated on their website, “aims to help students build a forever bond with literacy through publishing a book directly with the author and illustrator.” 

The Junior Author’s Program works in a three-step process which begins with the students’ selection of setting, characters and design of a children’s book while it’s being created. 

From there, the book is published, and students then get to donate 100% of their book sales proceeds back to their school or community by hosting a school fundraiser. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic, Harder said that there’s a large disconnect between students and their academics because of the other concerns the pandemic has brought to the table. 

The Junior Author’s Program gives students the opportunity to engage directly with the book’s author and the book’s creation process rather than simply doing work based off a book that they don’t feel directly attached to. 

“I think that process [of creating a book] is so important for kids to see… there’s so much that goes into that and I think we owe it to kids to be able to show them the process,” Harder said. 

“Where’s My House?” is set to be published on Earth Day, April 24 and a celebratory event will take place in Auberry, California, to show support and to thank those involved in the creation of the book. 

Various activities and a meet the author’s panel will be available to those who reserve a spot in celebrating the book’s launch on Earth Day. 

Harder said creating her book and the Junior Author’s Program has been a truly incredible experience. 

“I think that idea of being able to inspire kids to be actively involved and to channel their creativity in a really purposeful way, I mean, what a gift to be able to give that to them and to create inspiration in that way.”