LUCKY BREAK

PALMER — If she hadn’t broken her ankle, Valerie Boever probably wouldn’t be a published author today.

“I fell off the front porch a number of years ago and broke my ankle and I was laid up for three months. One day I picked up a pad of paper and started writing a book, and it just evolved,” she said. “It’s not like I spent my life pining away to be the great American author. It just sort of happened.”

The book she wrote is called “Margaret and Midnight the Alaska Malamute.” It tells the story of a young girl growing up in Palmer and the malamute puppy she gets for Christmas.

“Her dream is to run the Junior Iditarod,” Boever said. “The book tells the story of one year in the life of Margaret and Midnight.”

She said it’s a children’s book with pictures, but that doesn’t mean other people can’t appreciate it.

“Many adults have read it and have found it a very enjoyable book,” she said.

Readers get to see the puppy grow to a full-grown dog. Midnight and Margaret get into adventures, though Boever said she wouldn’t describe any of them as harrowing.

“More secretive-type things,” she said.

Laid up with that broken ankle, Boever said she finished the book and put it into the drawer. Later on she pulled it out, dusted it off and worked on it some more.

“About three years ago I read it and was working on it and I just up and decided to call a publisher and see if the book was any good,” she said.

Publication Consultants in Anchorage thought it was. She worked with that company for two years putting it all together. A friend put Boever in touch with an illustrator, Silver Hennessey, a former Alaskan who now lives in Florida.

“She read it and she loved it and immediately started drawing pictures,” Boever said.

And the book was born.

“It’s very thrilling. It’s really exciting to have a book in print,” Boever said.

It was published in October. She’s done one book-signing event already and plans a second one for Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at Fireside Books in Palmer.

The book ends before Margaret ever sets off on the sled dog race. Boever said she’s already written a second and third installment.

“Part three ends with her running the race,” she said.

Boever, a stay-at-home wife who has no children but has seven German shepherds, said that she once owned a malamute, but not a dog team.

“I did consultant with someone who has a dog team for books two and three, but not for Margaret. Not for the first book,” she said.

She said she and her husband lived for 11 years in Anchorage, but always wanted to move to the Valley. Talking to her about the differences between the communities, it quickly becomes clear why she chose to set her book in Palmer.

“It’s quiet and it’s peaceful and it’s green,” she said. “We wanted the small town life of Palmer rather than the city life of Anchorage.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.