COLUMBUS — In a Columbus home, Justine Pearsall finds a few hours in a day to sit down to write between wrangling her two young boys.
Pearsall is writing her third book in the series "The Adventures of Mighty and McGriff." The books feature stories of a young boy and his mini horse living on a ranch in Montana.
“My dad grew up in Circle, Montana, on a ranch. They actually rode horses to school, to a little one-room schoolhouse when they were growing up," Pearsall said recently. "My mom grew up over in Sheridan on a small sheep farm, Sheridan, Montana.”
Pearsall grew up in Belgrade but remembers visiting the farm and the ranch where her parents grew up. She knew a place such as that would be the perfect setting for her books.
“Every time we'd go visit, it was just so much fun as kids to go and feel like you could explore anywhere. And you were in your own little world, your own land you were on. And it just seemed like there was never boredom," she said. “The lifestyle of farming and ranching, I mean, it gets glamorized a little bit on TV, but it teaches such good foundations.”
In February of this year, Pearsall wrote the first Adventures of Mighty and McGriff after leaving her teaching job. McGriff, the young boy character in her stories, looks just like Pearsall's 3-year-old son, Leo. The character's name comes from her 2-year-old son Griffin.
“They kind of act like they own the place and that they're in charge. And so that's kind of the theme for the character,” she said.
In October, Pearsall released another book, which she independently publishes, in which Mighty, McGriff and a few other animals go on a journey through a snowstorm to help give a neighbor a Christmas to remember.
“Good morals throughout the books, but it's also fun and lighthearted. It's adventure and being a kid. Sometimes I think books are almost too serious for kids and it's like, let them be kids. Like let them have a good fun read that entertains them,” Pearsall said. “Every day is an adventure on a farm and a ranch.”
Pearsall said all of the pieces fell together for her to succeed in this endeavor. She credits her illustrator in Nebraska, her husband and God for helping get to this point.
The next Mighty and McGriff book will take the two to a ghost town on a mystery adventure in a ghost town, featuring businesses that pay homage to other special memories for Pearsall and her family growing up. The books can be found on her website, or at Murdoch's Ranch and Home Supply and Shipton's Big R's across the state.
