Tosa author publishes children's book based on real life encounters with mouse

The inspiration for Kathleen Terlizzi's children's book "Mouse in the House" came from real life encounters — with a mouse.

About 10 years ago, Terlizzi was caring for her newborn daughter, Angelina, when she noticed a small creature periodically appear throughout the home.

"We had this little brown mouse," said Terlizzi, who noted she was up at all hours of the night caring for her young daughter. "It would scurry down the dining room stairs, into the living room and scurry behind the couch."

The mouse emerged often from the shadows despite Terlizzi's efforts to catch it.

"He'd be on the carpet and he just looked at me and I just looked at him," she said.

Terlizzi thought her nightly encounters would make for an appropriate children's book and she got to work writing a rhyming poem and illustrating accompanying images with colored pencils and markers.

About the book

The book follows a brown field mouse who gets comfortable inside a family's home, raiding the kitchen and sleeping near a broom.

Just like the story, the illustrations reflect what Terlizzi's own home looks like, she said. The whole process took her about a week from start to finish.

With her finished product, the Wauwatosa resident headed to a local Kinkos store to have her work bound before shipping it off to Simon & Schuster publishing company in New York with hopes it would be published.

"They told me it was good, but that I needed to get an agent and get it properly formatted," she said.

Terlizzi took her rejected proposal and held on to it — for 10 years. Terlizzi thought she would tackle the project again when her kids went to school or when life slowed down, but for a decade, her undertaking was "put on the back burner," she said.

Coming full circle

In January, Terlizzi finally rekindled the project, this time researching self-publishing organizations. She found an organization that secured a copyright and linked into online bookstores.

"You kind of go in little baby steps," Terlizzi said of the book writing process. The Wauwatosa resident — who grew up in Ohio — said she's always had a passion for fine arts despite pursuing a "technical" degree in college.

The 22-page paperback book published by Archway Publishing in August, may be purchased online at Barnes & Noble for $11.70 or at Amazon.com for up to $12.07. Kindle and Nook electronic versions are also available for purchase. The book is published under Terlizzi's maiden name, Kathleen Zistra.

The Little Red Book store in Wauwatosa, 7603 W. State St., also has a few consignment copies available on their shelves. The store strives to sell locally written books, said employee Anne Purtell.

"We've always carried local authors," Purtell said, adding book subjects can range from sports to children's books.

As for Terlizzi, she said there are future books already in the works.