Dr. Radway's Sarsaparilla Resolvent: a fragment of an early sketch

Dr. Radway's Sarsaparilla Resolvent, my 1871 prequel to Dangerous Neighbors, will (I'm happy to report) be illustrated by my husband. That makes this book our third collaboration.  Bill illustrated my co-authored corporate fairytale Zenobia and took the majority of the photographs that appeared in my fifth memoir, Ghosts in the Garden. He began early sketches for this project more than a year ago, with this image. 

I am especially happy about this collaboration, for I have long been mapping the rise of illustrated middle grade/YA books. 

This is a fragment of the image that will most likely grace the cover of the book.  William, who was introduced in Dangerous Neighbors as a boy who rescues lost animals for a living, is the star of this tale.  Early on in the story he decides to keep this unclaimed goat, whom he names Daisy and who travels with him on his varied adventures.

I can't wait to see this book come to life. I am especially eager to share it with Philadelphians who today walk the (much transformed) streets that William claims as his own.