Submitted Photo Sandy Rieker of Alexander holds the children’s book she has written based on animals on the hobby farm she and her husband, Terry, own at Alexander. Illustrations were done by Cheryl Brown of Watford City.

ALEXANDER – Animals on the hobby farm that Sandy Rieker and her husband, Terry, own at Alexander inspired her to write a children’s book.

“The Most Unlikely Pair,” illustrated by Cheryl Brown of Watford City and published by AuthorHouse of Indiana, is a true story with one exception, said Sandy Rieker.

“All the things happen in there,” she said, minus an incident involving a chicken hawk.

“I love to write,” said Rieker. She said she has never had anything published before now.

Rieker got the idea to write a children’s book from watching the animals on the farm and observing some of the various animals’ behavior. She said she thought about writing the book, then one night sat down and wrote it.

“As far as Hershey the goat is concerned, he’s living the perfect life. He has a great, comfortable home with lots of friends and plenty of food and treats, until one day it all changed. He now has a new home and no friends, and everyone around him is mean! Unexpectedly, a quiet little friend takes him under her wing.- “The Most Unlikely Pair”

Rieker said the basic point to the whole story includes to be courageous, see the best in someone and be ready and quick to forgive.

Rieker said she works with kids and families a great deal. In the oil field, she said kids move often with their families. “What kind of impact does that have on children?” she said.

She said military kids and foster kids also go through many moves and changes in their lives. “How do they handle being the new kid?” she said. “That was really the point – trying to come from what it was like.”

Hershey, the main goat (“And he truly is the main goat,” Rieker said), a Nigerian Dwarf goat; Ruby, a white fainting goat; and Peanut, a Rhode Island White chicken, are among the animals. There’s also Rocky, a dog that they rescued.

Rieker said they got Hershey as a friend for Ruby so she would no longer be the only goat.

“When we got Hershey, he ran up to her and she wouldn’t have anything to do with him,” Rieker said. Now, she said, they share the same house, and the goats and Peanut the chicken all live together.

“If you see Ruby and Hershey, you’ll see Peanuts around them,” she said.

Cheryl Brown, who illustrated the book, and Rieker are friends. “She does beautiful artwork so when I wrote the story I asked her if she would do the illustrations. She graciously accepted the job,” Rieker said.

Brown and her husband, Gary, live in Watford City. She is mom to four married children and likes being Grandma. She enjoys teaching and driving a school bus.

Rieker said she has never published a book until now.

“I have another book in the computer,” she said. She said Brown will also do the illustrations for that book. She said the next book addresses bullies and is also based on her farm animals.

“We just got a pair of Black Angus calves – Jack and Jill. I can see another book brewing,” she said.

She has also done extensive research for an adult biography book. Her mother, who lives in Colorado, is a survivor of polio.

Rieker is a native of Colorado, and her husband is from Washington/Oregon. The oil business brought them to North Dakota.

“We fell in love with North Dakota and bought our own piece of property. I love it here,” she said. As director of Heritage Park in Watford City, Rieker said one year she tried to get a petting zoo for the park but that didn’t work out so she started her own.

Rieker is mom to three children with families, Corey of Sidney, Mont., daughter, Heather of Alexander, and son, D.J., of Colorado. She said D.J. and his family plan to move to North Dakota. There are 11 grandchildren, ages 17-1.

“It is a wonderful life. I absolutely love my life. I tell my husband every day thank you for such a beautiful life,” she said.

Her book is available through AuthorHouse, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

(Prairie Profile is a weekly feature profiling interesting people in our region. We welcome suggestions from our readers. Call Regional Editor Eloise Ogden at 857-1944 or call 1-800-735-3229. You also can send email suggestions to eogden@minotdailynews.com.)