Stephanie Mulligan is cataloging the Maine experience one children’s book at a time.

She began about five years ago when she wrote and published “How to Catch a Keeper,” based on her longtime summer job aboard the Lucky Catch lobster boat out of Portland. Later, she wrote “How to Tap a Maple,” inspired by her father-in-law’s maple sugaring.

She co-wrote a book with her husband, former University of Maine and New England Patriots tight end Matt Mulligan, called “Just a Kid from Maine,” detailing his journey from a rural Maine high school with no football team to a career in the NFL. As a kid growing up in western Maine, she had fond memories of singing the “The Maine Christmas Song,” so she decided to turn that into an illustrated children’s book, too.

Mulligan’s McSea Books, based out of her home in Lincoln, has published nearly two dozen titles since 2019, including the three written or co-written by her.

Not all of the books are specific to Maine, but she has proven adept at finding iconic Maine topics and asking, “Why isn’t there a children’s book about that?” She’s planning one on Caribou astronaut Jessica Meir and another called “Where Do My Sneakers Go At Night?” based on lyrics by beloved Maine children’s singer Rick Charette.

“She’s fearless, which I think is what it takes to be doing this. She comes up with these ideas that nobody else would think of doing,” said Con Fullam, writer of “The Maine Christmas Song,” which has been played on the radio and sung at local venues for more than 30 years. “No one had ever approached me about doing a book on that song. It never crossed my mind until she called me.”

STORIES CHOOSE HER

Mulligan, 37, wanted to be a teacher, not a book publisher. She grew up in the small town of  Otisfield, in Oxford County. Her mother taught adult education classes in history, math, English and GED prep, and often took Mulligan along with her to class.

Mulligan studied elementary education at the University of Maine, graduating in 2008. She had worked on the Lucky Catch – a lobster boat out of Portland that takes passengers along – during high school and college and says she was “obsessed” with the job. She loved meeting new people every day and helping them learn about Maine and lobstering. While in college, she wrote a poem about her experiences on Lucky Catch, basically because she wanted to share her thoughts about it with others.

After college, she taught elementary school in Cumberland. Though she and her husband both attended UMaine in Orono at the same time, they didn’t meet until around 2010, at a fundraiser in Boston. Matt Mulligan played for 10 NFL teams from 2008 to 2016 but always came home in the offseason to where he grew up, near Lincoln. The couple married in 2012 and Mulligan spent time teaching in Lincoln before they began a family. They now have three children: Clara, 10; Emmett, 9; and Adelina, known as Lena, 6.

At some point, Mulligan’s mother had put the idea in her head that her Lucky Catch poem might make a good children’s book. When her oldest child was a baby, she began working to make the book a reality. She found Maine artist Connie Rand to illustrate it and published it herself.

When it came out in 2019, Mulligan drove all over the state to distribute it, especially along the coast, and found book stores and gift shops very receptive to it. She sold about 2,000 books – it has a list price of $18.95 – and figured her book publishing days were over.

“Writing the first one was rewarding, but it took everything out of me. I said, ‘I’m never writing another one,’ ” said Mulligan. “Then I saw my father-in law tapping trees and that became a book. I don’t choose these books; they choose me.”

The ideas kept coming. When she heard that Meir was among the 18 candidates training for NASA’s upcoming moon missions, Mulligan immediately saw not only a book but a possible title: “A Mainer on the Moon.” That book is planned for 2025, Mulligan said.

MEANINGFUL MESSAGES

Some McSea titles by other writers and illustrators that have Maine or New England themes include “Clams All Year,” “Oh, Chickadee!” “Wicked Wild Poems of the Pine Tree State,” “Good Morning, Maine!” and “My Maine.”

Mulligan chose McSea Books for her company name partially because it sounds like McCoy, her maiden name, but also because it’s an acronym for the first names in her immediate family: Matthew, Clara, Stephanie, Emmett and Adelina.

Charette, who retired from performing a few years ago and lives in Windham, said Mulligan called him to ask about having a book made out of his lyrics for “Where Do My Sneakers Go at Night” and about taking over the publishing of some of his existing children’s books. He was immediately excited about the possibility of his songs helping children learn to read and enjoy doing it.

“Having the songs published as books means that they can help with literacy and to me that’s exciting,” said Charette. “If the kids enjoy singing it, they’ll read the book. The music can motivate them.”

You’d think the book about her husband was the easiest one for her to get published. But Matt Mulligan says at first he thought, “Nobody wants to read about me.” He was mostly a blocking tight end, not a high-profile pass catcher, though valued by the long list of coaches who put him on their teams every year.

But he came from a small rural Maine town and a family of modest means – his father worked in the Lincoln paper mill for 41 years. He raked blueberries to buy his first weight set at the age of 12 and eventually became an NFL player.

The more he thought about it and talked about it with his wife, the more Matt Mulligan began to think his story might have some value to others.

“She pushed hard and I realized that my story does have some value and meaning. I came from a high school that didn’t have a football team,” he said. “Other kids from Maine can look at my story and realize they can do it too.”

Another Maine story Stephanie Mulligan published was not well-known, but also worth telling.  “A Dog & His Boy” is the story of a stuffed dog named Spillway and his constant companion, Scotty Wentzell of North Yarmouth. Scotty, 23, was born was born with Dubowitz syndrome, a rare chromosomal disorder that causes developmental delays. He communicates using pictures on his iPad.

His mom, Lisa Wentzell, began writing about Scotty, Spillway and their adventures – including skiing and surfing with adaptive equipment – during the pandemic. People who had seen Scotty and Spillway on social media suggested she write something about them. So with the help of her friend and Maine author Heidi Bullen, she decided to write a book.

When they finished the book, Wentzell posted on social media she was looking for a publisher. Mulligan had taught in the school district where Scotty had gone to school, and knew about him and his family. She reached out to Wentzell and said she wanted to publish the book.

“I couldn’t believe she knew Scotty. I said, ‘You’ve got to publish our book.’ It just means so much more to us because she knew him, she knew the schools,” said Wentzell. “We were so happy to get this book out there, with its message of inclusion.”

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Mulligan has sought out some illustrators from Maine as well for her books. She and her husband wanted the book about his life to appeal to both younger and older kids, so they were hoping the illustrations could be more like a comic book.

With help from Scott Nash of Portland’s Illustration Institute, they found Rick Parker, who lives in Falmouth and had been the artist for comic books based on MTV’s “Beavis and Butt-Head.” He had also worked as an artist at Marvel Comics.

“I think she’s got her fingers on the pulse of what people want, even if they might not realize it yet,” Parker said about Mulligan’s knack for ideas. “She’s great at promoting her material and is super nice and easy to deal with.”

For an upcoming book called “Way Up in the Woods” by author Bill Wise of Gorham, Mulligan sought out noted children’s book author and illustrator Stephen Costanza, who lives on North Haven. His 2021 book “King of Ragtime: The Story of Scott Joplin” won a Golden Kite Award for picture book illustration.

Constanza thinks part of Mulligan’s success, and her knack for knowing what other people with kids might want to read, is that she’s living “a real life” in a small Maine town, raising her own family and working hard to build her business.

“She’s really living the Maine experience,” he said.

Copy the Story Link