Mary Jane McKittrick - Learning Life Skills BA Speech Communications and Theater from USC

Kindness and Caring seemed like "soft" words when I first started writing and producing stories embedded with lasting values. Now, I realize the power of these concepts to transform lives. I learned how Little Lessons could lead to Big Results by working with animals. Those experiences changed my life and inspired the Boomer and Halley series.

When parents tell me they don't have time to read to their children, I ask them, "What are you spending your time doing that's more important?

I saw a woman bringing her dog to obedience class while her child ran screaming through the store. What's wrong with that picture? 

It's one thing to complain that the culture is making us rude and coarse. My question is, "So what are you doing to change that?" 

Welcome to the world of Boomer and Halley!

It’s here that parents, grandparents, teachers, and others have a chance to make a PAWSitive difference in a child’s life.

Tuxedo Cat Productions, Inc., produces the Little Lessons. Big Results.™ series of Boomer and Halley stories for ages 4-8 to motivate and educate kids to be kind and caring.  The books feature Boomerang, an Australian Shepherd dog, and Halley’s Comet, that silver streak of a cat, who are adopted by Harold and Edna Sanders in the small Southern town of Shady Pines.

The Boomer and Halley books employ a breakthrough parent-child learning device.  A paw print highlights embedded life lessons like manners, cleaning up messes, obeying parents, respecting others’ property, etc. A perforated bookmark is included with prompting questions to give an adult reading to the child an opportunity to pause at the PAW  and reinforce these universal values.

Mary Jane McKittrick is the owner of Tuxedo Cat Productions and the creator, author, producer, and publisher of the Boomer and Halley© intellectual property. “We know from personal experience and statistics, that the earlier children are exposed to good values, the better chance they have of leading successful lives.”

McKittrick says that as far as she knows, no other book series targeting this age group teaches multiple values per book in story format. “We have seen curriculum-based books that teach how-to read, how-to draw, or even one value per book. We haven’t found any other property that presents an entire 10-book series containing four highlighted lessons per book. This series has multi-media potential.”

According to McKittrick, the Boomer and Halley series showcases Life Lessons of Lasting Value, offering value beyond the first reading of each installment. “By owning the entire series,” says Mary Jane, “you have a set of life lessons from which to teach, or if the need arises, you’ve got a refresher course!”

Best of all, the loveable Boomer and Halley characters are guided by their adoptive parents without the use of anger, violence, or bad language. The antics of these four-legged kids and their fun-filled adventures play out against the backdrop of the safe, quirky small town of Shady Pines!

Mary Jane Mckittrick can be reached at: maryjane@boomerandhalley.com