Cranford Native Pens 'Lovable Lucy' Book Series Based On Beloved Puppy

CRANFORD, NJ — Inspired by their very own "Lovable Lucy," mother and daughter duo Norma E. Roth and Shayna Rose Penn have joined forces to write a book series that teaches children about "kindness, confidence and inclusion."

Roth, a Cranford native who spent much of her childhood reading at the Cranford Public Library, began her career as an author after writing "Pink Ribbon Journey" — a poignant book about women with breast cancer, which came out of her own personal experience.

A few years after the book came out, Roth's children joked around the dinner table that Roth should write her next book about their dog Lucy's adventures and turn it into a children's series.

At first, Roth laughed it off. But when the pandemic hit and Roth's daughter, Shayna, ended up moving in with her parents, she and Roth wrote a few sample manuscripts. They then "test-marketed" the manuscripts with parents, kids and educators and received a positive response.

The "Lovable Lucy" series follows a curious and boisterous dog around as she faces a new beginning with her "fur-ever" home and new family.

"[Lucy] is an expressive, emotionally-relatable dog for young children to relate to," Penn said when describing the series.

Lucy's new family is a mixed Middle Eastern-Jewish family, as her mother is white and her father is from Israel. Roth explained that she wanted Lucy's family to represent what the world "really looks like" by incorporating a blended family.

But Roth said the book does not explicitly discuss the makeup of Lucy's family. Rather, it is shown through the illustrations in the book.

"We sort of want each reader to come up with their own idea of how a blended family comes together," Roth said.

Roth said the process of finding the right illustrator for the series was filled with "excitement, disillusion and defeat."

Because Roth and Penn had the vision of creating a diverse family, they were looking for an illustrator that could could illustrate people of different skin colors and hair textures.

Together, they interviewed 18 different illustrators, which Roth said was a very difficult process that took eight to nine months. They eventually landed on Adua Hernandez from Dallas, Texas who has a background illustrating humans and animals of all colors, shapes and sizes.

"It's amazing to me how she is able to draw an animal expressing so many different emotions and feelings," Roth said. "It's really phenomenal."

Check out some of the illustrations below:

Roth said she comes from a family of readers and started reading to her children from when they were newborns. She said the "Lovable Lucy" series is written in a way that encourages reading at an early age.

Roth and Penn curated a focus group of mothers, educators, librarians and even kids who all agreed that the book met the criteria for early readers. Penn said the book uses a lot of onomatopoeia and repetition, which is helpful to both visual and auditory learners.

The first book in the series, "Little Lovable Lucy's Big Day," is out now and the second book, "Little Lovable Lucy, You're So Big," is set to become available early this fall during back-to-school season.

Penn said they plan for it to be a ten-book series that explores Lucy's different adventures.

The books can be ordered on the Lovable Lucy website where you can also learn more about the series.

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