Stephanie Gibeault and The Dog Who Saved the Bees

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Stephanie Gibeault . Take it away, Stephanie!

Like a dog spotting a squirrel, I’m usually the type to be easily distracted by the next new shiny idea. But sometimes I come across a story and it won’t let go. That was the case when I met Cybil Preston and learned about her rescue dog Mack. I interviewed Cybil for an American Kennel Club article seven years ago and only a few months later I wrote the first draft of the manuscript that became my latest picture book The Dog Who Saved the Bees.

As the chief apiary inspector for the Maryland Department of Agriculture, Cybil is responsible for certifying the state’s commercial beehives free of disease before they ship across the United States to pollinate crops like almonds, apples, and strawberries. Without those commercial beehives, we wouldn’t have those foods on our tables. Flatbed trucks carry bee colonies along highways from state to state and farm to farm, and one truck can transport millions of honey bees. But if a diseased colony slips through, it can decimate local bee populations at its new destination.

Back in 2018, the world of commercial pollination was new to me, and I was fascinated. But even more fascinating was the fact that Cybil uses scent detection dogs to find one particular bee disease—American foulbrood. And her first sniffer dog, Mack, was an unruly and untrained Labrador retriever she rescued from a lonely life in a garage. In the beginning, Mack wouldn’t listen and couldn’t focus, but Cybil didn’t give up. Through dedication and hard work, she trained Mack to become the only certified foulbrood detection dog in the United States. Together they even went on to earn the Customer Service Heroes Award from the governor of Maryland. Now I was really hooked.

Mack sniffing for bees infected with foulbrood.

I submitted my article that summer, but Cybil and Mack’s story kept floating around in my head. It had dogs, it had bees, but most of all it had heart. I knew children would love it as much as I did. So, I worked on the manuscript for about four-and-a-half years. At one point, it was even a middle grade book proposal. I took it to my critique partners time and time again (I’m so grateful for their patient feedback) and used every opportunity I could for professional critiques. Just like Cybil wouldn’t give up on Mack, I wouldn’t give up on this story. And I’m so glad I didn’t.

In 2023, senior children’s editor Barb McNally at Sleeping Bear Press saw the value in my manuscript. Once it was paired with David Hohn’s incredible illustrations, The Dog Who Saved the Bees blossomed into something even better than I could have imagined way back in 2018. David captured Cybil and Mack perfectly, and the emotion in his art pulls on the heartstrings. I hope readers fall in love with this story the same way I did and learn to appreciate dogs and bees and all they do for us. But even more, I hope they discover the importance of persistence. Because those dreams that take more time and effort than expected are the most satisfying when you achieve them.