Dryden nurse authors children’s book

Proceeds of book sales to help local K9 groups

By Phil Foley

DRYDEN — Not long after Christina Tharrett's husband, Jason, an Oakland County municipal police officer, brought home Brutus, a K9 officer, their son, CJ, developed an "incredible bond" with the dog and began calling him Brutus Boy.

That bond inspired Tharrett to write Brutus Boy, a children’s book that tells the story of the special bond between police officers and their four-legged partners. Christina said she wrote 25-page book from the dog’s perspective.

Not long after Brutus, a Dutch-German Shepherd mix, came to live with the Tharretts, Christina noticed there weren't many police dog themed children's books.  She said she decided she wanted to tell a story that "sparked conversations about kindness, courage and teamwork."

While Brutus is a working dog, he lives full time with the Tharretts.  Christina said being a dog handler isn't for everyone, but it's Jason's passion. 

Jason picked Brutus in Pennsylvania last year in an event he described as "like the NFL draft." The pair completed their K9 training last June.

He said because Brutus belongs to his department and department rules prohibiting profiting from police property, they can't use the name of his department or any of its logos in the story.

The couple's been married seven years and moved to the Dryden area three years ago to be closer to family and to have more space.  "We found a house we just love," she said.

Christina, who's a nurse practitioner, specializing in cardiology, said the story came easy to her. Still, the project took 10 months to complete. Part of that was working with Amazon's AI service to complete the illustration.

She said she'd give the program photographs and suggests and it would send back illustrations and then she'd make revisions. "There was a lot of tweaking," she said. 

Amazon put Brutus Boy on its website July 25 and with no promotion it’s already sold nearly 100 copies. Christina said she plans on giving copies to local police chiefs and reaching out to police organizations.

She said she also plans on selling her book at local farmers' markets.

She added, “A portion of proceeds will be donated to local K9 support groups in the community.”

According to Amazon's summary of the book, “Through Brutus's journey, children will gain a better understanding of the important role police dogs play in keeping communities safe while learning valuable lessons about friendship, perseverance, service and compassion."

Jason said he was "kind of shocked," when he found Christina was writing a book about him, Brutus and their family, but he added, "I thought it was awesome."

Brutus Boy is available on Amazon.com.