This is the book Snow Lions and its sequel, Rescue of the Fairy Queen. A snow lion is a creature that I made up for my granddaughter Lucille when she was a baby.
She and I would get up early on a snowy day and look out of her second-story bedroom window at the neighborhood below. One morning, Lucille noticed tracks in the snow that were made by the mailman walking to the mailbox. She asked me what had made them, and without even thinking about it, I exclaimed, "Snow lions!"
From there, our story began. I told Lucille that every time a child remembers to look out her window for a snow lion, their tails will grow just a little bit longer. This way, they know which homes have children who believe in them. The problem with snow lions is that they are elusive and hard to find.
Lucille and I have had many conversations about what these creatures are really up to out there in the snow. They remained very mysterious until one day, out of nowhere, in the middle of a hot summer day at the lake, Lucille sat down and told me the true story of the snow lions. Here it is, just as she told it to me, with a little help from her brother Eli.