Photos by Mick Melvin

A new children’s novel by Martha Ritter, with illustrations by Matt Ryan was celebrated with a book signing on June 26, 2014, at the Chase Family Gallery, at the Mandell JCC. Martha playfully read from her novel about a mute, nameless foxhound who has spent her life in a laboratory cage. The story’s characters include a diva ladybug named Dottie, and a solitary girl named Olivia, who rescues the hound.

Martha Ritter is a  journalist, speechwriter, and poet,and she has worked in theater and shared her sense of humor with a national audience in a number of classic TV commercials. This is her first children’s book.

“The Nearly Calamitous Taming of PZ” will be available online (at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com) and in bookstores in August.