UPTOWN — An Uptown woman is crowdsourcing funds for her children's book series exploring the lives of rescue dogs.
Savy Leiser, 24, hopes to raise $7,000 to fund the first two books in The Furever Home Friends series: "Princess Allee" and "Smile Chewie," she said.
"Our books teach children about a variety of social issues — including adoption, animal abuse, body image, disabilities, racism, sexism, and much more — through a dog's perspective," according to the Kickstarter page.
Leiser, who moved to Uptown in July, also writes for magazines, taught creative writing at Sacred Heart Schools and teaches poetry at Open Books in the West Loop. Her first young adult book "The Making of A Small Town Beauty King" was released in February 2016.
"Each story [in the new series] is based on a real shelter dog, [but] it deals with these issues in a child-friendly way," Leiser said.
"Princess Allee" tells the story of a black lab puppy that is adopted: "She's a little diva and needs to learn to get along with other dogs at the house," Leiser said.
"Smile Chewie" is based on a pitbull who was shot in the face, though the story is toned down for its audience. In the story, Chewie is left with scars on his face from an abusive owner and must gain his confidence back, she said.
Leiser began working on The Furever Home Friends project about two years and it evolved to add stuffed animals.
"Our stuffed animals are here to create lifelong friends for dog-loving kids everywhere," according to the Kickstarter page.
You can donate to the project here.
Stuffed animals from the Furever Home Friends series. Courtesy of Savy Leiser.
