Mouse with a mission:
‘Henry the Field Mouse’ brings family together
Look at this lovely article published on July 31, 2022, in The Columbian, our local newspaper in Vancouver, Washington. Being interviewed by Monika Spykerman was an absolute delight, and she has penned the most wonderful article about the ‘story behind the story’ of Henry the Field Mouse!
Click the link below for the full article!
Camas woman’s mother connected to grandchildren through curious mouse from continents away
By Monika Spykerman, Columbian staff writer
Photo by : Taylor Balkom/The Columbian
Camas resident Sue Dockstader has mice on her mind, as well as hedgehogs, foxes, squirrels, moles, rabbits, stoats and water voles. If these creatures bring to mind classic tales from the English countryside like Kenneth Grahame’s “The Wind in the Willows” or Beatrix Potter’s enchanting books, you would be, as the British say, spot on.
The aforementioned animals all appear in “The Adventures of Henry the Field Mouse,” penned by Dockstader’s mother, Jo Coker of Gloucestershire, England. What began as a sheaf of old letters blossomed into a children’s storybook with two sequels, an intergenerational project that brought Dockstader’s far-flung family together in ways she couldn’t have imagined. Not bad for a humble filed mouse.
Interview with Camas Library
Programming and Outreach Coordinator Ellen Miles chats with Sue Dockstader about the process of writing and how she came to publish three children’s books with her mother, Jo Coker. Stay to the end when Sue reads from one of the books!
Cotswolds Author broadcasting Henry’s Mousy adventures.
COTSWOLDS Radio has begun broadcasting a new storytime show featuring local author Jo Coker reading from her children’s book series, The Adventures of Henry the Field Mouse.
Northleach octogenarian publishes her third children’s book.
Jo wrote the first Henry Field Mouse stories when her grandchildren moved to Hong Kong 20 years ago.
While many people in their eighties have been feeling depressed during the recent lockdowns, 86-year- old Jo Coker has been working on publishing her third children’s book, The Adventures of Henry Field Mouse- Book 3.