Office Maggie Stars in a Children’s Book 

Saarvi Deshwal || EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Andover High School’s Officer Maggie now stars in her own children’s book, written by Officer Thomas Paolera and illustrated by senior Olivia Horvath. 

Officer Maggie: The Police Comfort Dog introduces a day-in-the-life of the AHS police dog at a preschool to an elementary reading level. The book explains Maggie’s purpose as a police dog and follows her through a workday, from catching bad guys to eating treats.  

The idea for the book began at Paolera’s home, where he would regularly read books with his two sons. “We’re reading children’s books all the time,” said Paolera. “I was sitting here looking at Maggie and I said, ‘Let me give this a try.’”

After drafting the initial text, Paolera reached out to Meghan Michaud, an art and graphic design teacher, to help find a student to illustrate the book. Michaud recommended Olivia Horvath, a junior at the time, who had experience with Adobe Illustration software and an interest in graphic design.

“I was equally as shocked as I was not surprised,” shared Horvath on her reaction to being asked to illustrate the book. Given her experience with Adobe software, Michaud felt she was a natural fit for the project. 

The process of making the book took longer than expected. It was anticipated that the process would only take a few months, but the project ultimately lasted about a year. 

It was “a lot of late nights,” said Horvath. “[I would work] on the book, then go to class the next day, get edits on it, go back and edit it, and just doing that over and over.”

Using Adobe Illustrator, Horvath created vectors—images created from curves, points, and lines rather than pixels, allowing it to be scaled up and down without the risk of it becoming blurry—of all the characters, people, grass, cars, and many other details that could easily go unnoticed by an average reader. She then brought together all the different aspects in Adobe InDesign, where she laid out the text. 

“It sounds so much simpler than it is,” added Horvath. Some illustrations were based on real photographs shared by Paolera of him and Maggie, which were then adapted into illustrated versions for the book.

Paolera and Michaud described the process as very “collaborative,” with many drafts and revisions. “[There was] definitely a lot of back and forth,” shared Paolera. “[Olivia] fixed a couple things, put her spin on it, and then I asked to change some small things … we just did some final edits and added some small things here and there.”

In addition, students stopping by the Graphic Design room during H-Blocks or after school offered input on the book at its various stages. “There were always students that were giving feedback—sometimes unsolicited feedback,” commented Michaud. “But there were always fresh eyes on it that were familiar with Officer Paolera and Officer Maggie. So I think that’s a unique thing.”

Just under 200 copies of Officer Maggie: The Police Comfort Dog were printed, and some will be at Memorial Hall Library and AHS for student display. Additionally, Paolera is doing read-alongs at all the Andover Public School elementary schools and at Shawsheen Preschool. Two copies of the book will be donated to each of the libraries at the schools they visit. 

Despite taking longer than anticipated, “it came out great,” said Michaud. “I can’t wait to see what kids think about it when it gets out in the public.”

“The best part was just seeing it come together,” commented Horvath. “I think my favorite spread would be the last two pages, where it shows Officer Maggie in the back of a police car driving off after work.” Horvath shared that digital illustration is something she can see herself doing in the future and that she is happy with the outcome of this project.

“I did the easy part. Olivia did all the hard work and she did a really great job illustrating, and it came out awesome,” reflected Paolera.