Moorhead children’s author Kim Larson will sign her brand-new book, “Goat’s Boat Won’t Float,” at Ferguson Books at 300 Sheyenne St. in West Fargo from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5. (Photo/Nancy Hanson.)

“Goat’s Boat Won’t Float,” Kim Larson’s first published children’s book, and handcrafter versions of main characters Goat and Turkey.

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

A Moorhead author is introducing early readers to a new pair of protagonists Saturday – a fainting goat and his perky turkey sidekick.
Kim Larson will be signing copies of her first published children’s picture book, “Goat’s Boat Won’t Float,” at Ferguson Books in West Fargo Saturday. It’s the official launch day of the colorful illustrated tale, the first in what she hopes will be a series of at least three published by The Little Press, a New Jersey publisher of “kidlit,” or books styled for the young.
A second book, “Doll Trouble,” is also in the works. Clavis Publishing of New York City will release “Doll Trouble” in early 2025 … in Dutch for readers in the Netherlands. An English version is scheduled for release later that year.
Landing two book contracts with commercial publishers marks the high point so far in the Moorhead woman’s writing career, but she’s no overnight success. Instead, the two publications follow nearly 15 years of learning the trade and honing her verbiage.
“I worked in banking for more than 20 years, first for Alerus and then for a mortgage company,” she says. “When that company closed due to the housing collapse in 2010, I was laid off. By then, my two sons were grown. My husband Chuck knew I’d been toying with writing and encouraged me to go in that direction.”
Kim’s first project was a devotional-style Bible study titled “Unraveling Fairy Tales.” Its subtitle, “Learning to Live Happily Ever After,” reflects its goal: Finding ways to untangle the problems that hinder our happiness. Among its characters are Cinderella, Rapunzel and Chicken Little. The cover invites readers on a journey to “experience God’s audacious, indescribable, irresistible and unconditional love.”
“I’d been working on it for years and years,” she says, “and finally published it in 2020.” Amazon’s self-publishing platform was the key to getting it into print, both in traditional ink-on-paper on demand and as an e-book. It continues to be available online through Amazon and Ingram.
Starting in 2010, she approached writing as her full-time vocation. While majoring in fashion design at North Dakota State University, she’d taken just one journalism course: “That’s where I got my first ‘C,”” she laughs. Now she enrolled in fiction-writing classes at Concordia. They went better, she acknowledges. “I fell in love with fiction because you can make it up.”
She submitted short stories and poems to regional anthologies, ultimately seeing a dozen included in a variety of publications. She published a collection of her best pieces as “Love, Laughter and a Few Happily Afters.” She sought out writers groups in person and online, absorbing all the information she could find about professional authorship and publication.
“I’d begun toying with children’s books by the time I discovered the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in 2018,” she says. “The group met at the Fargo library. I learned a lot of inside information about the industry from them.” She adds, “When I showed them some of my first writing for children, they were so kind: ‘Hmm, it’s a bit didactic,’” she laughs. “I guess I was preaching a little.”
When COVID kept her home, she discovered the vigorous online “kidlit” community. “They’re amazing – so helpful,” she reflects. “Otherwise, this is a pretty lonely existence.”
It was there she learned about the Unpublished Picturebook Showcase, in which writers from around the world submit their manuscripts for review by editors and agents. Hers was one of just 50 selected from among 1,000 submissions. An agent signed her as a client based on her story, “P.I. Goat: The Case of the Sticky Situation.”
Her goat character was inspired by the real critters raised by one of her stepsons. Fainting goats have a hereditary condition that causes them to a stiffen or fall over when excited or startled. In “Goat’s Boat Won’t Float,” the hero falls over with a “thunk” when he’s scared by loud sounds.
“Goat” has another advantage, too – it’s one of the short sight-reading words recommended for writing aimed at children in kindergarten and first grade.
So far, Kim says, “Goat’s Boat” has been a hit with youngsters who’ve perused advance copies. To her surprise, she has also heard from parents who say their children identify with Goat’s reaction to loud noises. “Their children have noise sensitivity, too,” she says. “By the way, I use ‘scared’ instead of the more accurate word ‘startled’ because that isn’t on the word list.”
In addition to her signing at Ferguson Books from 11 to 1 Saturday, Kim will be touring schools in coming weeks. She will meet students in all the elementary schools in her home town of Owatonna. She’s also scheduled for the Twin Cities Book Festival. She is currently arranging author’s visits to elementaries in seven area communities, including Ellen Hopkins in Moorhead, DGF, Hawley, Breckenridge, Lake Park-Audubon, Campbell-Tintah and Rothsay, along with McKinley Elementary in Fargo.
Kim invites other schools and libraries to contact her to arrange visits. More information is available on her website, www.kimalarson.com.