Famous 5: Michelle Hawks Reinshuttle
Missourian turned Washingtonian – Michelle Hawks Reinshuttle – definitely gets our “Mom of the Year” award. Not only because she just wrote and published her first book, The Stuck Truck, but because she did it during a time when the rest of us gave up: Snowpocalypse 2016 (see also: Snowbama 2016, Snowmageddon 2016, Netflix and Chill 2016).
She moved out here in 2002 after graduating Missouri State University and met her husband, Austin Reinshuttle, fairy tale style at tea time in the lobby of the Greenbrier. For those of you not familiar with fairy tale style, it basically means not Tinder. Since she spends all her time being a fantastic mother and wife, it leaves her little room for artistic ability and credits her illustrator, Casey McKinley, for bringing her book to life.
You just published a book! Tell us about it!
My two-year-old daughter, Reagan, will tell you it is “her” book. It’s a fun tale about a snow plow named Poppi who loves his job clearing the streets for other cars. But Poppi runs into a little trouble and gets help from an unlikely stranger. This is basically a combination of “Cars” and “The Lion and the Mouse”, so it has something for everyone! 20 pages of fun rhymes and beautiful illustrations. It is a perfect bedtime story!
Were you inspired to write The Stuck Truck during DC’s latest snowpocalypse?
Yes! It’s based on a true story from this year’s storm! I was FaceTiming with my parents (who live just a few blocks away) when a snow plow got stuck in front of their house. My daughter was simply mesmerized with the scene and couldn’t stop watching the “stuck truck” as it was freed from its icy trap by a neighbor’s tractor. For weeks afterward, Reagan kept asking to see pictures of the stuck truck. My parents were actually the first to suggest the scenario would be a great children’s book.
If you could have a celebrity guest read to your daughter before bedtime, who would it be?
Since Samuel L Jackson has already done the celebrity reading of “Go the F to Sleep” I’m going to have to go with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Where can we find you on a gorgeous day in DC (when it’s not snowing – unless that’s your thing)?
Gravelly Point. I may enjoy watching the airplanes taking off and landing as much as my daughter.
Your turn. Ask yourself a questions and answer it.
What’s next? Be on the lookout for my next book series, “The Dragon of Many Colors”. It’s about how dragons live similar lives as humans but they have funny names for everything.
