Dawn (Wolff) Boland and her daughter, Allie Leedom, both of Fort Dodge, collaborated on the Wolff Pack Heroes book over the fall and winter of 2023.

“I’ve always wanted to write a book,” Boland said. “I have 10 grandchildren who I read to on many occasions, but I also wanted my dad to see something like this with our family name connected. He didn’t live to see it printed but he loved the thought of making wolves something positive and not scary.”

“Sometimes, wolves have tended to be portrayed as villains,” she added. “This was a chance to make them heroes with a short, fun story about their friendships with other animals on an adventure.”

Leedom, an adept artist in her free time when she wasn’t completing a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Phoenix, assisted her mom with all of the illustrations. Using her steady hand, Saber, Sable, and Titus (the wolf pups); Sammy the squirrel; Rickey the rabbit and Bucky the beaver came to life over 42 pages along with a story that Boland admitted came to her quickly and was put together in around 15 minutes.

-Submitted photo
Dawn (Wolff) Boland, left, and her daughter, Allie Leedom, both of Fort Dodge, collaborated on the Wolff Pack Heroes book over the fall and winter of 2023. Leedom created the illustrations .

“Allie had the difficult part,” she said about her daughter’s drawings. “The beaver dam itself took many days due to all of the sticks. She completed it this past winter. I wouldn’t have been able to get to this point without her.”

“I’ve always loved to draw,” Leedom admitted. “It’s come rather easily to me. It was a labor of love to help my mom help bring this book to completion.”

The mother-daughter duo pointed out this is just the first in a series of children’s books they are looking to produce.

“We obviously want to see how things go with the sale and marketing of Wolff Pack Heroes,” Boland said. “We’ve been discussing an eagle theme set in the mountains as one of them.”

Wolff Pack Heroes is available for purchase at Amazon.com, Ingramspark.com, Lulu.com, and Walmart.com as well as copies being available at the Green Dragon Bookshop in Fort Dodge. They’ve shared early copies with some of their grandchildren’s elementary schools, too.

-Submitted photo
Dawn (Wolff) Boland and her daughter, Allie Leedom, both of Fort Dodge, collaborated on the Wolff Pack Heroes book over the fall and winter of 2023. Leedom created the illustrations.

“We will see how things progress in regards to printing more.” Boland said. “Our family is just so excited to see this idea be developed into its final goal. We think families and children locally and farther will enjoy this story.”

-Submitted photo
Dawn (Wolff) Boland and her daughter, Allie Leedom, both of Fort Dodge, collaborated on the Wolff Pack Heroes book over the fall and winter of 2023. Leedom created the illustrations.

-Submitted photo
Dawn (Wolff) Boland and her daughter, Allie Leedom, both of Fort Dodge, collaborated on the Wolff Pack Heroes book over the fall and winter of 2023. Leedom created the illustrations.