Leavenworth author turns local lamb chase into a children’s book adventure

LEAVENWORTH — Leavenworth resident Denise Cherryholmes has published a children’s book called “Tully’s Alpine Adventure,” featuring local names, places and events.

The book follows Tallulah the goldendoodle, known as Tully, on a whimsical journey up the mountain and through the town of Leavenworth. With the help of her lamb stuffie Wooliam, Tully uncovers the legend of Lambkin, a mysterious and clever lamb that visited the village long ago.

“Tully’s Alpine Adventure” is both illustrated and authored by Cherryholmes, a retired teacher with a 30-year career in education specializing in language development and multiple intelligences. For the illustrations, Cherryholmes combined traditional art with technology, mixing her photography with AI and several editing platforms.

When Cherryholmes moved to Leavenworth six years ago, she was inspired by the beautiful trails she walked her goldendoodle Tully on, as well as the backyard wildlife she encountered: a dozen deer nestled in the snow, a bear trudging past her grape vines, and even a mountain lion living under her back porch for a few days.

The endless encounters fueled her imagination, prompting her to write a book about Tully’s local adventures for one of her many grandchildren, Winter, who had fallen in love with the goldendoodle. The popularity of the book with her grandchildren, as well as her daughter’s kindergarten classroom, led Cherryholmes to write another: “Tully’s Alpine Adventure.”

The book is inspired by the true story of a lamb that ran loose through Leavenworth in 2022. The “lamb on the lam” prompted several concerned residents to post about its whereabouts in the local Facebook group, resulting in a team effort to track the lamb down. 

“I just felt like there was a story there, because everybody was so friendly about it. And I really felt like Leavenworth needs something for kids that ties together the different places,” said Cherryholmes.

The children’s book follows the lamb’s journey, revisiting the places it was spotted – Cascade High School, Wenatchee River Institute and Worldmark, to name a few – with some local icons added to the story: Dan’s Food Market, Schocolat, and Jubilee Global Gifts. The story also features some of the local faces and names involved in the original lamb chase. 

“Leavenworth is so, so beautiful, and it was an opportunity to showcase a lot of the natural places here,” said Cherryholmes.

To this day, Cherryholmes has been unable to confirm what resulted from the search, but she hopes her book will prompt an answer from the community. In the meantime, “Tully’s Alpine Adventure” offers a magical ending for the lamb.

“Tully’s Alpine Adventure” is written for ages three and up, and for a third grade independent reading level. The book is currently available on Amazon in paperback, eBook, and eBook with Spanish translation. Hardback copies will be available Sept. 12.

“I've worked extensively with ESL [English as a Second Language] kids, and I feel like they always get chipped out of really good literature. So I wanted to get a Spanish translation out really, really rapidly,” said Cherryholmes.

The book is accompanied by a website that includes Tully’s Diary, photos of her in Leavenworth, and book-themed learning activities that incorporate language arts, math concepts, science, geography, and elements of art. The additional elements can be found at cherryholmescherubs.com.

Cherryholmes also plans to sell the book in Jubilee Global Gifts and other local shops. The Leavenworth Art Haus will host an author signing for “Tully’s Alpine Adventure” at 1 p.m. on Sept. 21.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media