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A Word from Susan and Lexi Haas
The Year of the Buttered Cat is a middle grade (and up!) memoir based on the real-life story of how Lexi discovered that something terrible, something criminal, happened to her right after birth—something that left her with an out-of-control body and without a voice. We worked on it for years and are so excited to be able to share it with you soon.
The book alternates between two timeframes: first you’ll see Lexi as a precocious, superhero-obsessed teen counting down the final 24 hours to a risky brain surgery that might help her talk or—dare she dream it?—to walk and use her hands. As her surgery grows closer, she finds an urgent, relentless need to share the story of the year in her life she calls “the year of the buttered cat.”
That year, when Lexi was five years old and on the verge of shutting out the rest of the world, she began a lonely quest to find her “missing” body. After the family cat went missing, too, and a mysterious letter appeared, she reluctantly enlisted two budding friends to aid her search. But when these friends also disappeared, Lexi had to learn new ways to reach out to the world to save her friendships and uncover the truth about what happened to her as a baby.
In the spirit of Wonder by R.J. Palacio and Out of my Mind by Sharon M. Draper, The Year of the Buttered Cat offers empowering, powerful messages of disability, friendship, family, loss, and the art of redefining ourselves. As the mom of one of the most well-known people in the U.S. with kernicterus, a rare form of brain damage caused by untreated infant jaundice, my purpose in creating this book is to ensure that no child ever contracts kernicterus again. We hope you’ll choose to support this Indiegogo campaign to raise awareness and support research into this preventable disorder—15% of net funds from this campaign will be donated to the Kernicterus Research Foundation.
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A Letter from Lexi’s doctor
“I hope you will enjoy reading this book and getting to know Lexi. I have known Lexi for most of her life—ever since her mother brought her to see me when she was a baby. Like many of the children I see in my clinic, Lexi has kernicterus.
In The Year of the Buttered Cat, you’ll learn that bilirubin inside a newborn’s body makes skin and eyes yellow, or jaundiced. Most babies have some jaundice from slightly elevated levels of bilirubin. This mild jaundice in newborn babies is normal and not dangerous. But sometimes the level of bilirubin in the blood gets too high and gets into the brain. This can be dangerous. It can damage parts of the baby’s brain and cause what Lexi has, kernicterus.
It is important to know that not all babies who have jaundice will get kernicterus. Only a very few have so much jaundice and bilirubin that it is dangerous. By testing early and often with a blood test or a special skin sensor these babies can be treated to prevent permanent lifelong damage. Newborn jaundice needs to be managed to make certain that all babies have the same chance for a normal life. Doctors and nurses, medical providers, and parents need to be educated about jaundice and bilirubin and know how to follow simple guidelines to test for and prevent kernicterus. Everyone should know about it and help spread the word about testing newborns to prevent kernicterus from happening.” —Dr. Steven M. Shapiro, Former Chief, Division of Neurology, Children’s Mercy Hospital Kansas City
About the Authors
Susan Haas is a Charlotte, NC-based medical writer, dog-lover, and painfully slow runner. She’s the #1 fan of her five adult kids and husband, Ken. Most days she would gladly trade the family cat for a Starbucks latte.
Lexi Haas is very much the spunky, sassy, superhero obsessed teen in The Year of the Buttered Cat. She embraces her inner nerd, her love of a good romance story, and her disability—but if you stand too close to her wheelchair, she will pinch you.
What We Need & What You Get
We have set a flexible goal of $7500 and hope to have at least 200 supporters.
Where Funds Will Go
- 15% of net funds will be donated to the Kernicterus Research Foundation
- 20% of net funds will go directly to Susan and Lexi Haas
- Printing and shipping costs
- Perk fulfillment costs
Book Stats
- Publisher: Penelope Editions, an imprint of Penny Candy Books
- Pub date: April 13, 2021
- Hardcover, 323 pp.
- Middle Grade Nonfiction
- Trim size: 5.75 X 7.875
- Age range 10-14 years (and up!)
- FSC certified paper, printed in Canada
About Penny Candy Books and Penelope Editions
Small press. Big conversations. Award-winning books for a wide range of readers.
Penny Candy Books is an independent children’s book publishing company based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Greensboro, North Carolina. Founded in 2015 by poets Alexis Orgera and Chad Reynolds, Penny Candy released its first title in the fall of 2016. Our imprint, Penelope Editions, released a coloring book in 2017 and its first middle grade novel in 2020.
At Penny Candy Books we have a twofold mission for our books: to create conversations and to publish children's literature that reflects the diverse realities of the world we live in, both at home and abroad. This means seeking out books by and about people and subjects that speak to and from a broad range of human experience. Our mission for Penelope Editions is to publish young adult and middle grade books with guts and vision.
Risks & Challenges
Because we've gone through the process of publishing books a few times now (25 to be exact), we are pretty clear on our printing and fulfillment process. We have a top-notch printer who has never once been late with a print job. There are inherent risks in publishing a book: will it get good reviews, will it win any awards, will it sell copies, but none of these things will keep the book from getting into the world. There are new challenges to book publishing with the presence of Covid-19 changing the way the book industry works in ways we've yet to discover. We think the best way to mitigate this particular challenge is to reach out to our supportive community.
Other Ways You Can Help
We would love it if you can contribute, but there are other ways beyond contributions that you could help us meet our goals. We'd be so thrilled if you got the word out to your networks of friends, family, and colleagues about our campaign to get the word out about The Year of the Buttered Cat and its mission to raise awareness about jaundice and kernicterus. Indiegogo has some great share tools that makes it easy to make some noise about our campaign!
