Wireman as first issued, 2005

Most importantly, Sue began working with three groups from her target audience on a regular basis. They included fourth graders, middle school students, and boys and girls ages 15 to 19 in a locked-in juvenile facility. These young people acted as story consultants. They advised Sue on what was hip (and who was not), on what sounded right to them, on what interested them.

In 2007, unable to secure more funding for the second half of the first volume, Sue and her husband Roger made "a leap of faith" and entered the world of publishing themselves with newly retooled issues 1 and 2 of Wireman and issues 3 and 4, completely Volume 1. With the assistance of many friends, they have now completed Volume 2, issues 5-8, covering the top 300 sight words. This summer, the Wireman artists will go back to the drawing board to begin creating Volume 3, which targets the top 500 most common words.

Learn more about Sue Stauffacher and her children's books.