One Big Sock

Young children can be easily distracted and then fixate on something out of place while the rest of their life is unfolding around them. They can be shuffled between indoor and outdoor scenes and even miss activities and events that are designed to bring joy and fun as they fixate on a problem. One Big Sock is an example of this fixation as the sock remains an issue through an entire school day. In the end we learn that while the big sock was a problem, the sock that fit actually deserves some gratitude.

Mary Kauffman was born into a military family in Sacramento, California in 1973. Life in the military took her all over the world to 13 countries, 14 schools and 22 states before even graduating high school. After earning a BA in Psychology and an MS in Leadership along with working in Communications and Retail Management, Mary found herself working in state government. Immersed constantly in new cultures and environments both in her youth and as an adult, Mary has been able to identify some things that are universal in human experience and capture the feeling from a child's perspective.

Mary lives with her family in WI and spends time working, raising a family, writing, exercising and finding humor in even the smallest moments. She is still pursuing higher education and studying the behaviors of the people and the details of the scenes that surround her everyday. Faryn Hughes is a freelance illustrator who specializes in ethereal watercolor and digital works inspired by nature, animal wildlife, and storybooks. She has been illustrating books for 10 years and illustrated over a dozen books including Lynnie & Lug vs The Forest, Penelope's Perfect Pizza, and the Bubba Heard... series. Faryn currently resides in Saint Paul, Minnesota with her two very fluffy cats.