Writer's love of moose and kids inspires book

OGDENSBURG — Of all her worldly interests, Cris Rishe says she really loves just two things: kids and moose.

The kid part of her story is simple, it's the moose part that takes a little time to figure out.

Born and raised in Ogdensburg and having married into an already large family, there always have been lots of children around for Mrs. Rishe to dote upon.

When her daughters (Jadie and Jessica) were growing up, many of their friends called Mrs. Rishe "Mom" and many still do. Her grandchildren's (Adreannah and Luca) friends now call her "Grandma Crissy" and that's all right with her also.

It was Mrs. Rishe's love of moose, however, coupled with her love of children, that led her to self-publish her first book, "There's a Moose on the Loose!!"

The children's book will soon be available online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Xlibris. For more information, contact Xlibris at 1 (888) 795-4274 or on the Web at www.xlibris.com.

For Mrs. Rishe, what started as "a whim", has turned into the adventures of Horace T. Moose, "a seven-foot, three-inch moose that lives alone way up the mountains." Horace is an overly curious and friendly animal and throughout the story, has adventures and learns valuable lessons along the way.

"I've been writing for a long time — years," Mrs. Rishe says, adding, "Mostly for my kids, and then my grandkids."

An article in the newspaper, along with some loving persistence by her husband, Steve, eventually resulted in the book.

"There was this thing in the paper about a moose being loose somewhere around Heuvelton," Mrs. Rishe explained. "And the whole moose is loose thing really stuck with me. I sat down later that day, after reading about it, and wrote the entire story. Two or three months later, I did all the illustrations for it."

Mrs. Rishe still didn't plan on doing anything with the manuscript, but gave copies of it to her friends and family members. "That's how it started out," she said. She read her book to a granddaughter's Head Start class at Kennedy Elementary School and later at Madill Elementary.

Some time later, after a bit of prodding by her husband, who kept telling her she could go somewhere with her idea, Mrs. Rishe read a how-to book, "How to Get Your Book Published", and the bigger project of publishing her work began.

"It's an amazing experience for anybody who wants to do something like this,"Mrs. Rishe said of the self-publishing experience. "The first thing that book tells you is not to just send your manuscript to the company," Mrs. Rishe says, "It's complicated. It's not like it used to be."

Mrs. Rishe said she sent letters of interest to five companies, most of which eventually asked for a manuscript. Tate Publishing, a Christian book self-publisher, offered Rishe a contract, which she said she turned down because she didn't want to relinquish any of her rights.

Eventually, and again at her husband's suggestion, she chose to publish through Xlibris, a self-publishing and print-on-demand company that allowed her to retain copyrights. "Everything remains in my name and nobody can do anything with it without my consent," she said.

Rishe was presented with a finished copy of "There's A Moose on the Loose!!" on July 1. "I had given them my original manuscript and drawings and they continuously sent me proofs as they developed them," she said. "It happened in stages, all the way down to how they will market it."

Mrs. Rishe hopes to donate copies of her book to each of the elementary school libraries in the city, as well as to the Ogdensburg Free Library, when they become available. "I've always loved Ogdensburg," she says. "It's a good place to raise children."

But what about her infatuation with the moose?

"I don't know what to tell you," she said. "My home is filled with them and my life's dream has always been to someday see one up close in the wild. If you look closely, there's a big white wooden one in the trees by the driveway. It gets worse in the fall and around Christmas."

"I've always asked for one. There's room in my back yard and I could fence him in," she said. "But my husband probably will never go for it."

Another moose story is in the works, as the sequel, "Horace meets David T. Eagle", has already been written.

"My Dad had polio as a child and really loved eagles," Mrs. Rishe said, providing a preview to the next book. "He (her father) is the eagle with a weak wing that ends up meeting Horace and riding him around."