About Us

It began with a father, a bedtime, and a rabbit with muddy feet.

More than twenty years ago, a father told his children a bedtime story about a small rabbit — a rabbit with muddy feet, a full satchel of carrots, and the courage to go looking for someone he loved. That father is the author of every tale in Whisker Woods, and that first story was written for his own children.

Then came the long road.

A custody decision took his children far from him. What followed were years of courtrooms in California — years of paperwork, hearings and waiting, of limited visitation and supervised calendars. He had to prove, again and again, that a father who loved his children was exactly what he appeared to be. The courts asked him to fit an idea of what he should be, a shape he never chose, and the days between visits stretched long as winters.

His family is one of far too many. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, roughly one in four American children — about 18.2 million — live without their father in the home, and in about 80% of single-parent households it is the mother who holds custody. A typical arrangement hands a father a weekend or two each month, and for very young children whose parents separate, the common plan can be as little as a couple of hours at a time, a couple of days a week. That distance isn't measured only in miles. It's measured in bedtimes, school mornings and ordinary Tuesday evenings — the small, unglamorous hours where fatherhood actually lives, and that no court calendar can give back.

Researchers who study these children find the cost again and again: kids who keep warm, regular time with their fathers adjust better, sleep better and hurt less — and no child ever chose the schedule that took that time away. The system meant to protect children often ends up rationing the very love that protects them most.

So he did what storytellers do. He wrote. Every chapter of Dirty Foot's search — every locked gate, long road and kind stranger — carried a little of that weight. The story was how he kept being a father on the days when everything else said otherwise, and how he held onto hope that the road home is long, but it leads somewhere.

"Love doesn't end at the doorstep. It walks every mile of the road home."

What the tale carries now.

The stories here are a careful adaptation of that original telling — same muddy feet, same satchel of carrots, same heart. They are written and illustrated by hand and by heart: warm watercolour scenes, gentle narration you can listen to, and choices that let young readers steer the adventure themselves. Along the way Dirty Foot is joined by a wise Owl, a clever Fox, a grateful Snake, a noble Hawk and a very huggable Bear — friends for the path, wherever it leads.

For every parent reading through a hard season, and for every child who misses someone — this one is for you.