Storystorm 2025 Day 12: Joann Howeth Chooses Parallel Story-Telling

by Joann Howeth

People ask what inspired the writing of my picture book biography THE MOLLYS B. and why I chose the parallel story-telling format. It started with an incident in which a heifer executed (forgive the pun—perverse, for sure, but for some reason makes me chuckle) her grand escape from a slaughterhouse in Great Falls, Montana in 2006. That was a busy year for me; I was taking care of my elderly parents, working full-time, and just getting through each day. I remember reading the article about her in the local newspaper. Mostly, I was amused, but I was also inspired by this bovine’s determination and pleased that she had been granted clemency. I cut it out of the newspaper, added it to a folder about animals I’d been keeping for years, and then forgot about it.

Eight years later this heifer made the news again. The article provided a recap of her escapade (hilarious again in its retelling) and proceeded to tell readers about what she’d been doing in the intervening years. Having evaded slaughter and now named Molly, she had been a resident of two large animal sanctuaries. When both of those operations had to close, a third home was found for her at a farm animal sanctuary located in my hometown. The story once again tickled my funny bone, so for my own amusement, I cut the article out of the newspaper, filed it away, and proceeded to forget about it.

By this time, my parents had both died, I was no longer working full-time, and I was engaged in learning the craft of writing children’s books. Always on the lookout for story ideas, I visited my folder about animals where I stumbled across the newspaper articles about Molly. I remember thinking what fun it would be to write her story, but how? A cow escaping from a slaughterhouse? For children?

Fast forward another eight years: it was November. My husband and I were flying home from New York City, and I was as sick as sick could be—the kind of embarrassing sick that had me using the motion sickness bag. And in that weird, brain-fogged, “please let me die” place, I was touched by magic, and THE MOLLYS B. landed in my lap.

In 2006 when Molly the heifer was recaptured and returned to the meat packing plant, the manager didn’t have the heart to send her back to the slaughter pens. Her gumption to overcome her fate spoke to him. He secured her freedom and humorously named her “Molly” after the original unsinkable “Molly”—Margaret Tobin Brown— famous for having survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. He saw that the two females shared a natural buoyancy: not only had Molly the heifer survived encounters with moving objects (cars, trucks, and a train), like Margaret she had also survived an ordeal with water—a fast-moving ride down the Missouri River.

In my flulike stupor, I envisioned these two, indomitable gals side-by-side. The text started unfurling and with racing thoughts, I dictated it to my husband, who patiently let me interrupt his reading each time I leaned over with a fresh line. I wrote the first draft of THE MOLLYS B. in four brain-addled hours, but it’s evident that the desire to tell this story had been germinating a long time—sixteen years! Success? Yes, sort of. I had found my way into the story. I had words down on paper, but I still had a sticky problem.

Photo credit: Blue Balloon Books

How does one explain a slaughterhouse to little children? What was my responsibility here? I really wanted to tell Molly’s story—her gumption inspired me. I wanted to celebrate that. But how? Finally, I decided I could tell the story by focusing on one single, shared experience, and how both females, from places of determination and inner strength, fought to save their lives.

Fast forward another two years: after a year of conducting interviews, obtaining testimonials from experts, purchasing licenses for photographs, rewriting, and revising, and then another year of working with a publisher and illustrator, the dual story of the Mollys is at last ready for its audience. It has been a long journey, demanding an amount of patience for which no synonym exists, but I’ll tell you what—it has been FUN! With capital letters. Immensely rewarding and gratifying, I wouldn’t change any part of it.

So don’t ignore those niggling ideas that keep you awake at night, no matter how outlandish they may at first seem. One of those ideas may be a story longing to be told and you may be the only one who can tell it. Find your way into it and start writing!

*Footnote: for the parents of the astute child who questions Molly’s presence in a slaughterhouse in the first place, my book provides resources that will hopefully guide them in finding answers for the toughest of questions they may find lobbed at them.

Photo credit: Adler Boncher Creative

Expecting to become a high school English teacher, Joann was secretly relieved when a scarcity of jobs following graduation nudged her into a complete change of directions. Finding employment in the jewelry industry, she spent many happy creative years as a designer and goldsmith. Comparably satisfying, Joann now writes children’s books. She is a member of the SCBWI and the winner of a handful of awards. THE MOLLYS B. is her second book. Joann makes Montana her home. Visit her at JoannHoweth.com and follow her on Instagram @joannhoweth.author.