A 6-year-old border collie, rescued during COVID-19, is at the heart of its owner’s new children’s book series designed to help children process feelings, build confidence and feel understood.
Children’s book author Johanna Johnston of Houlton and Rex, one of her five dogs, are a certified pet therapy team. Their visits to Aroostook County schools inspired the “Rex to the Rescue” stories.
As Johnston and Rex volunteered, starting out with first graders at Houlton Elementary, she noticed that many children were navigating big emotions and situations they didn’t always have the words to express. Their experiences became the foundation for the series, she said.
“It was three years ago and my first realization that there’s more to these kids’ school experiences than learning to read and write,” Johnston said on Monday. “They have bigger struggles than I ever imagined.”
In one early visit, she asked students what they liked most about school, expecting answers like, “recess” or “lunch.” One child quietly responded, “It’s warm here,” she said.
“That moment stayed with me,” Johnston said. “It made me realize that for some kids, school isn’t just where they learn — it’s where they feel safe.”
Johnston is also the executive director of the Southern Aroostook Development Corporation and the owner of Riversbend Paddle Company.
Johnston was living in New Jersey and working from home during COVID-19. She wanted to get Tula, a Staffordshire-foxhound-boxer mix, a playmate. But because so many people were looking for dog companions during the pandemic, few shelters and rescue groups responded to her inquiries, she said.
A Craigslist post from someone rehoming a 4-month-old puppy got her attention. She met them for the first time at a gas station near Philadelphia.
Rex from the start showed a desire to please Johnston and he loved humans he met instantly, she said.
Last year they went through the therapy team process — background search, written exam, vet health documentation and dog and handler testing — to be certified by the Alliance of Therapy Dogs.
At home, Rex is a mama’s boy. He’s always alert and watching for delivery trucks, fishermen and anyone to turn around in the driveway to let the rest of the pack know, Johnston said. He is also the self-appointed cat herder.
“He clearly got so much pleasure from spending time with people and portrayed an extra gentility around children,” Johnston said.
“I love his natural obedience. We never did any special obedience training,” she said. “If I tell him he’s going to go to work with me he will stick by my side the rest of the morning to make sure I don’t forget.”
Johnston’s pack includes the matriarch, Tula, who will be 10 in June. After Rex comes Bear, a 4-year-old Great Pyrenees-Mastiff mix, who is the family’s night watchman. There’s 2-year-old Blue, a Great Dane lap dog, and 1-year-old Aspen, a pit boxer mix who curls up with Blue in Johnston’s lap.
Johnston’s series includes her debut book, “Rex and the Day He Didn’t Feel Brave,” and the newly released “Rex and The Two Different Eyes.” The illustrations in the series are AI-generated, according to Johnston.
In the first book, Rex wakes up with a feeling of unease. He’s startled by loud noises and a little overwhelmed at a room of loud children.
“As someone with anxiety — personally mine is so severe I am considered a disabled veteran — I often wake up with the same feelings,” said Johnston, who served as an operations intelligence analyst in the U.S. Air Force. “Adulthood means sometimes you have to push through those feelings and find ways to cope, like breathing exercises.”
The moral of the story is that being brave isn’t the absence of these feelings, but doing things even in the presence of fear or nervousness, she said. In the book, Johnston included breathing exercises and other techniques for children to use when they are afraid.
The second book is about how Rex has one blue eye and one brown eye and it never really occurred to him that he was different until someone pointed it out. The book goes on to reveal that everyone has something different or unique about them and it’s not a bad thing.
“It’s often what makes us beautiful or special,” Johnston said. “Again, it weaves in common feelings that many adults and children have reaffirming that it’s ok.”
Johnston and Rex have gone to County schools to read the books to the students who also get to pet Rex. In February, the Houlton Elementary first graders each took turns reading a book to Rex, Johnston said,
The students were excited and took care to pick a book they thought Rex would enjoy. Each one sent Johnston and Rex a special homemade card, she said.
Johnston continues to visit classrooms, often alongside Rex, using storytelling to connect with students in a meaningful way.
With two books now published and more ideas already in motion, Johnston said she hopes the series will continue to spark important conversations in classrooms and at home.
“If even one child feels a little braver or more understood because of these stories,” she said, “then it’s worth it.”
