Sometimes, watching the right movie can change your life.

That's what happened when aspiring author Shelley Meyer watched the Bucket List.

The 2007 Hollywood comedy stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as a pair of terminally ill men who head off on a road trip with a wish list of must-dos before they die.

Meyer had a burning item on a bucket list of her own – that book she'd been one day meaning to write.

"I thought, you know, we always talk about that thing that we should do in our life," says the busy mother of two, who runs a bustling preschool out of her home.

Fired up by the film's message, she started working on a manuscript for a children's book.

She knew exactly the kind of story she wanted to write. Something simple, told through repetition and rhyme, and illustrated with engaging, brightly coloured illustrations to match – elements the children in her preschool classes responded to when she read them stories aloud.

Most of all, she wanted the book to provide a lesson to the young readers she imagined would be the audience for the book.

As the book started to take shape, she asked her daughter, Tessa, to take a look at the draft, hoping the 17-year-old would draw a few sketches.

"I said sure, why not?" says Tessa, now a student at Trinity Western University. "I did a few pictures, and she liked it."

"She always has been a great artist," her mother explains, "and I thought it would be great to do it together."

Something about combining their creative instincts clicked.

They worked page by page, with mom providing the story text and daughter working on illustrations.

"My mom told me what she wanted," Tessa says. "Like, she wanted the kids [in the story] to be cute and chubby, really appealing to a child." Her mother was really pleased with the results.

"Tessa was great at just listening to the whys and the wherefores. I can't even draw a happy face!" Shelley says. "She just listened to what I wanted, to my vision, and drew it up exactly how I had it in my head."

With son Spencer, 13, in hockey, Tessa juggling work, school and soccer, and Shelley running a preschool, it's no surprise the two never sat down and worked on the book for two or three hours at a stretch.

"You never have that kind of time," Shelley says.

The joint effort went smoothly from Tessa's point of view, too.

"There was no pressure to it, because my mom didn't really have any expectations."

When Aaspirations Publishing Inc. of Toronto gave the pair the green light, the final element was in place. Publishers of children's books normally match authors with illustrators. The Meyers were thrilled when the company agreed to use Tessa's drawings.

The hitch was the Meyers needed to make their book longer.

That led to a lengthy editing process, with phone calls, e-mails, pictures and pages running back and forth. The final colours of Tessa's illustrations were added at the publisher's, "with the idea that we wanted really bright, bold, elementary colours" and were based on Tessa's original cover page illustration.

"It's been great. I've loved the process," Shelley says, praising her publisher Anjali Sondhi.

"We respected her expertise and she respected ours. The book just turned out the way we all pictured it would be."

The result is Where the Buttercups Grow, a cheerful story with a simple message: kids can make a difference.

The story is about two children who thoughtlessly drop some litter in a field dotted with happy yellow buttercups who smile and sing. The careless act has consequences, and before long, the field is piled with garbage. Except for one, the buttercups wither and die. When the children return to the field and are shocked at the destruction, the surviving buttercup whispers that it's up to them to do something to help.

They begin picking up the litter, inspiring others to join in.

"They just look at it and decide, hey, we can clean up this mess," Shelley says. "Before you know it, everybody is joining in."

Claiming personal responsibility is a value she has worked to instill in her young charges.

Her preschoolers have helped plant daffodils as part of the City of Surrey bulb program. And her little kindergarten graduates always plant trees.

Her preschool has also adopted their block of 85A Street, picking up litter.

"That was the premise for writing this book. Kids make a difference, and the kids have taught me a lot about that."

With that in mind, Shelley is proud to point out Aaspirations Publishing says one tree will be planted for every printed copy of the book, as a way to off-set carbon costs of production and transportation. Anyone who purchases a copy of Where the Buttercups Grow can go online to claim their tree.

The book, printed on recycled paper, went on sale in June.

It's made the recommended reading list for Surrey, meaning it will also be available in libraries and schools. Additionally, the publishing company is working on a curriculum guide that could be used along with the book.

Shelley may have crossed one item off her "Bucket List," but her literary aspirations haven't ended there – she's already finished her second book.

Daughter Tessa, meanwhile, isn't so certain she'll pursue art as a full-time career.

She notes her father, the family's resident doodler and artist, had originally planned to become a cartoonist with Disney but wound up in helicopter maintenance as an electrician and mechanic instead.

Likewise, Tessa plans to continue her art as a hobby, but hopes to study medicine one day – possibly as a reconstructive plastic surgeon.

"To me, that is combining not so much art, but creativity with medicine."

- by Jennifer Lang

newsroom@surreyleader.com