Ainsley and Bigfoot Are Finally in the City

A storybook, a coloring adventure, and a small explanation for why Mad Mother has been quieter lately

You may have noticed that my Substack posts have been less frequent over the past few months.

I hope you will forgive the quieter stretch when you know the reason: I have been finishing a children’s book.

Not a political investigation. Not a democracy-in-crisis essay. Not another deep dive into Project 2025, corruption, authoritarian overreach, or the daily assault on our institutions.

A children’s book.

And today, after more formatting battles, margin mysteries, resolution fixes, cover adjustments, and KDP-induced confusion than I ever imagined possible, Ainsley and Bigfoot in the City is live on Amazon.

This book began with one very specific request from my granddaughter, Ainsley: she wanted a book about Bigfoot in the city.

So that is what I made.

Ainsley and Bigfoot in the City is a storybook and coloring adventure for children ages 4–8. It follows Ainsley and her gentle Bigfoot friend as they explore ordinary city places that become extraordinary through imagination: walking through the neighborhood, riding bikes, going to school, visiting the library, cooking, swimming, climbing, and trick-or-treating.

At its heart, it is a book about friendship, courage, curiosity, and the kind of wonder children bring into the world so naturally.

It is also a coloring book, because I wanted children to be able to step into the story themselves - to color the pages, notice the details, and make the adventure their own.

This has been a labor of love, and also a very real learning curve. I learned more than I ever expected to know about page margins, bleed, resolution, cover placement, KDP previews, and why “almost right” is sometimes not right enough when a book is going to print.

But today, it is real.

Ainsley and Bigfoot in the City is live on Amazon.

You can find it here: Ainsley and Bigfoot in the City

Thank you to everyone who has cheered me on, answered questions, offered encouragement, or simply tolerated my obsession with getting Bigfoot’s toes, Ainsley’s sunglasses, and the cover margins just right. A special thank you to my daughter Lindsay who helped me over the finish line.

This book is for Ainsley - and for every child who knows that imagination can turn a city street into an adventure.

Now that Ainsley and Bigfoot have officially made it into the city, and onto Amazon, I will be returning more regularly to the work this Substack was created to do.

There is no shortage of urgent material. The attacks on democratic institutions have not slowed. The corruption has not become less blatant. The authoritarian project has not paused just because I was arguing with cover margins, page bleed, and Bigfoot’s toes.

So in the coming weeks, I will be back to publishing more researched pieces on current events, Project 2025, corruption, Christian nationalism, the courts, and the ongoing fight over the future of American democracy.

For today, though, I am taking one small breath to celebrate a different kind of project: a story about a little girl, a gentle Bigfoot, and the belief that imagination still matters.

Thank you for being here for the democracy work, for the detours, and for this happy moment, too.