Follow your dreams, 87-year-old Sask. author tells kids in her 1st book

A little pig named Hambone had a dream one day of finding the biggest, juiciest pickle. He set out to make his dream come true, and now a book about his journey is published — making a Regina author's dreams come true too.

At age 87, Jackie Arnason is releasing her first children's book, Hambone: Why Pigs Have Curly Tails, on Aug. 9 — Book Lovers Day.

"I've always loved reading and making up stories," Arnason said. 

Books and stories were a way to get through growing up during the Great Depression, she said.

"They took me away from real life, which wasn't exactly pleasant at the time," said Arnason. "Seven kids in a very small house, very little money. You didn't have radio, didn't have TV.… So I used my imagination and I could put myself anywhere I wanted."

As a child, Arnason would tell her sisters and brother stories. She was also inspired by other members of her family. Her grandmother wrote for The Atlantic magazine and her grandfather worked on an edition of Webster's dictionary. 

"He and I used to sit and read through the dictionary. He'd point out the words, and I'd learn new words," Arnason said. 

As she read, listened and told stories, ideas for more popped up, she said. She said she usually starts with a small idea and turns it into a story. The idea for Hambone came from a sandwich, she said.

"My youngest daughter, the day before, said, 'Mom, I want a different story. I've heard all the other ones.' All of a sudden while I was eating this ham sandwich with the pickle, the story popped into my head."

Arnason said now, years later, it was also one of her daughters who pushed her to publish the story. Her daughter knew a publisher and connected the two. 

It's exciting. It's scary and it's almost like birthing a baby.- Jackie Arnason

"The story is about a little pig who has a very strange need. He wants a dill pickle. Oh, not just any dill pickle, but the greenest, juiciest, sour-drippyist, most puckering pickle you ever had," Arnason said. 

"He finally dreams so much about it, he decides he has to go out in the world and find this pickle."

Hambone sets off on a journey filled with characters who need help and eventually reaches the dill pickle place, but he's out of money. 

After helping out the owner, Hambone is given the best dill pickle. 

"He picks out a huge, sour, most puckering, crunchy dill pickle, and he takes a giant, enormous bite and his tail curls up. And from then on every pig has had a curly tail."

Arnason said she hopes children learn the lesson behind the story. 

"Follow your dreams, no matter how silly they seem, but be kind to people on the way," Arnason said. 

Arnason said that message resonates with her too. She's always wanted to publish her books but was a bit scared and didn't know how to do it. The process was filled with mixed emotions. 

"It's exciting. It's scary and it's almost like birthing a baby," she said. 

She hopes to publish more in the future, and says her next story  will be about an "awful, terrible, horrible, monstrous morning."