Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Cherryville, NC (WNN) - Lisa Pritchard, who lives on the North Carolina coast, said her journey into writing children's literature was quite unexpected. From manufacturing to literacy coordinator, Pritchard is expected to release her first children's picture book next week, March 17, at Barnes & Noble, Target, and Amazon.
Before becoming an author, Pritchard spent many years working in manufacturing as a master scheduler and materials manager. After a while, she decided to pursue a career in education so she could be more involved in her child's schooling.
During her time teaching high school students, she served on literacy teams at both the county and state levels. It was through this experience, Pritchard said, that she became increasingly concerned about the declining literacy rates.
According to her research, children develop much of their self-esteem before the age of five, making early reading a critical foundation for confidence and academic success. She states that 88% of high school dropouts have reading difficulties. The lack of literacy would make it difficult for these high school dropouts to apply for insurance or lease an apartment.
"If parents read to their children just 15 minutes a night, those children will be exposed to millions of words before they ever start kindergarten." - Lisa Pritchard.
She also noted that literacy impacts every subject in school, not just reading and language arts. It's in the match problems, science experiments, and so on.
Pritchard is currently working on multiple installments of her first series, "Dirt Dog and Friends." Designed for readers ages 4-8.
Pritchard credited her husband with the idea of the series. The idea came from a moment at home when her husband returned from hunting with their muddy dog. As the clean house was getting messy again, her husband said, "I guess we're just dirt dog and the nasty," and that was when Pritchard pulled out her phone and started typing away. Within two days, she had drafted the first story.
She noted that animals are great storytellers, as they have no skin color or other distinguishing traits. They are all inclusive.
Her first book, Dirt Dog Invites Prissy Poodle to the Prom, tackles self-esteem issues. Pritchard explained that children at a very young age may develop self-esteem issues and that this is closely tied to literacy. The more parents, grandparents, and siblings read to their kids or siblings, the more confident their kids will be in kindergarten, which, in turn, will boost their self-esteem.
Her other books, such as Tiny Tot Tiger says Happy 250th Birthday America, also draw on lessons about patriotism, recycling, civics, and more. She also does her best to incorporate vocabulary from grades two through five. In addition, she creates printable activity packets for the children to use after reading the book to apply what they have learned.
For Read Across America Week, typically the first week in March, Wise asked Pritchard if she would like to read aloud a short passage from one of her books. And of course, Pritchard chose to read "Dirt Dog". She found out that the theme for Read Across America Week was "Champion Kindness," and she immediately felt pulled to read from Dirt Dog, specifically because Dirt Dog himself is the epitome of kindness.
Watch Lisa Pritchard chat with Rusty Wise about becoming a first-time author and listen to her read aloud her own book, Dirt Dog Invites Prissy Poodle to the Prom.
In order of release:
You can stay up to date with Lisa Pritchard at www.dirtdogandfriends.com. There, you can find free printable activities, more information about the characters of the Dirt Dog series, and blog updates from Pritchard herself.
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