The Making Of Shady Pines Story Town
Mary Jane McKittrick, Founder of Shady Pines Story Town & Author of the National Award Winning Boomer and Halley books
Shady Pines Story Town is an online children’s platform and community created by author Mary Jane McKittrick. She has built this as an evolving project, starting with Mom’s Choice Gold Award Winning books and expanding into an online neighborhood with multimedia content. It has become a vital resource for young children (primarily ages 6-9) 
because it serves as a “digital sanctuary.” In a world of fast-paced media, social media chaos, noise and division, this project draws inspiration from the gentle, nuturing spirit of shows like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
Destination: Safe Harbor. For parents, caregivers and educators, this platform provides a “safe, small-town” environment where kids can learn without exposure to the anger or violence often found in modern entertainment. Here they find a nod to a gentler, kinder bygone era in tone while addressing very modern themed stories.
In the small Southern town of Shady Pines, human and animal cartoon characters of all ages and backgrounds tell stories to inspire Kids to be Kind.
Translating “Real World” News for Kids: One of the most unique aspects of Shady Pines is its ability to take complex current events and make them digestible for young minds. The town has its own news delivery system, The Shady Pines Gazette: Led by characters Editor Zulah Talmadge and Scoop the Cub Reporter, the site frequently updates with stories that 
mirror real-world events—such as the 2026 Winter Olympics or national holidays like Presidents Day. These stories don’t just report news; they frame it through the lens of values. For example, coverage of the Winter Olympics offers us a story focusing on being a “humble winner,” and a “gracious loser.” The underlying theme was that winning lasts a moment but kindness lasts a lifetime. The President’s Day story made the point that good leaders demonstrate the same characteristics that make a good neighbor leading to a strong community.
These family-friendly stories and videos appear on the site’s Kindness Connection Blog: https://shadypinesstorytown.com/shady-pines-story-town-the-kindness-connection
Mary Jane McKittrick is a national award-winning children’s author best known for the Boomer and Halley book series, which forms the foundation of the Shady Pines world. The book series revolves around Boomerang (an Australian Shepherd dog) and Halley’s Comet (a silver streak of a cat.) Boomer and Halley are adopted by Harold and Edna Sanders, a childless couple who now are thrown into instant parenthood.
The “PAWSitive” Approach: The books are famous for their “PAWS” approach to learning. Instead of a long moral at the end, the stories include four specific “life lessons” embedded directly into the narrative. They are marked by paw prints on the page, which act as natural “stop and talk” moments for parents and children to discuss topics like: Honesty, Manners, Respecting Property, Sportsmanship, and so on.
Backgroud: Before becoming an author, Mary Jane had a successful career in television entertainment (working for a TV production company; Co-Host of PM Magazine) and broadcast news, serving as an anchor, reporter, and producer at three, network affiliate television stations.
“My hope is to one day see animated Shady Pines Story Town stories inspire generations of Americans to be kinder and more tolerant of one another. This message is not only relevant for our times, it’s essential.” – Mary Jane McKittrick
Click the button below to learn more about the inspiration
for Mary Jane’s delightful characters!
Some comments from our customers:
“What a wonderful way to help young children understand the importance of simple, yet very important life lessons. The PAWS approach and the timely themes of these books are right on the mark.” – Alice Forman, elementary school teacher (Response to reading Boomer and Halley – Scavenger Hunt)
“I recommend this book as a teaching tool to parents and hope that Ms. McKittrick will now turn her attention to writing one for adults.” – M Andrew Carver, Ph.D., teacher and child psychologist (Response to reading Boomr and Halley – Lost and Found)
“I like the way you include real life issues into this cartoon world. It makes it easy to talk to the kids about difficult topics like this one.” – Carmen (Response to Blog post about the Capitol Riot)
“Shady Pines news always has a way to help kids understand what’s going on. I like that.” – Sandy (Response to Blog post about the Covid vaccine rollout)
“Every time I read one of these posts I want to live in Shady Pines. There’s so much heart and kindness. Thank you. I needed this.” – Barbara (Response to Blog post about Letters to Santa)
“Don’t we wish every community had a goal of kindness and gratitude. Very good.” – Terri (Response to Blog post about a New Approach to 2021)
Bob Ostrom, Illustrator & Art Director
The overall look of Shady Pines harkens back to a bygone era. Colorful cartoon characters come to life due to the expertise of illustrator, Bob Ostrom.
Based in North Carolina, Mr. Ostrom has been illustrating children’s books for more than 25 years. He is a nationally known talent with credits that include Little Mermaid, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rug Rats, and many more.
Bob has worked for such noteworthy companies as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network.
He and Mary Jane first worked together on the Boomer and Halley book series which won the Mom’s Choice Gold Award and the Pinnacle Book Award. The nostalgic imagery they concocted for the Shady Pines™ Story Town Project was developed with the intention of keeping with the feel of a safe, small Southern town. The 2-D animation style illustrations make it possible to convey the project’s illustrations on various platforms.
To learn more about how Mary Jane and Bob work together to create Shady Pines Story Town, click the button below.
Boomer and Halley Books
Each Boomer and Halley book has 4 life lessons embedded in the story line and highlighted on the page with a PAW mark. Using the perforated bookmark with prompting questions you can find out if your young reader (4-8 yrs ol) understands concepts like: Sportsmanship, Honesty, Manners, Respecting Property, Tolerance, Kindness, and so on.