An Eagle daughter transforms her late mother’s poems into children’s books that preserve love, creativity, and legacy for generations to come.

More than a decade after losing her mom to cancer, Eagle resident Hailey Boucher is bringing her mother’s words back to life in the most personal way possible—through children’s books filled with poetry, imagination, and illustrations born from memory, grief, and love.

The first book in the series, Eliza Picklepear, is a whimsical children’s story written by Hailey’s late mother, Sherri Jackson, before she passed away at just 47 years old. Known and loved throughout the Eagle community for her work in schools as both a teacher and administrator, Sherri left behind not only cherished memories for her family but also a collection of stories, poems, and journals that reflected her creativity and heart.

Now 28, Hailey has transformed one of those poems into a fully illustrated children’s book using her own artwork—and even her mother’s actual handwriting as the font throughout its pages.

“It’s been this dream in our family for so long,” Hailey said. “My dad, my sister, and I always talked about eventually publishing her work. But something just clicked recently, and I knew it was time.”

Hailey was only a sophomore in high school when her mother passed away after a long battle with cancer.

“When you lose someone you love at such a young age, it completely shapes how you see the world,” she said. “You can either fall into despair or decide life is temporary and you need to live it fully. I definitely went the second direction.”

That perspective has followed her into adulthood.

In 2022, shortly after COVID restrictions lifted, Hailey and her husband packed backpacks and spent two months traveling through Ireland and Scotland—a dream her mother had always talked about but never had the chance to experience herself.

“My mom had this big coffee table book of Ireland landscapes,” Hailey said. “She would sit and look through it all the time. She always wanted to go. We had no money. We were newly married, living in a tiny apartment in Nampa, but I just thought, ‘What if I died young too?’ I didn’t want to spend my life making excuses.”

That same mindset eventually led her back to the binder full of poems and stories her mother left behind. The poems had been carefully preserved, complete with handwritten edits and notes in the margins. Hailey said going through them felt almost like having conversations with her mom again.

“One of the coolest parts was realizing I could preserve her actual handwriting,” she said. “I took samples from her journals and notes and created a font from it. So the writing inside the book is literally her handwriting, just like my ‘You Are My Sunshine’ tattoo.”

“She’s still part of my life. I think about her every day. I tell stories about her constantly. This book keeps her alive in a way that feels tangible.”

The result feels deeply personal.

Eliza Picklepear is playful and imaginative, centered around a girl with outrageously big hair—something Hailey laughs may have been inspired by both her and her mother.

“My mom had really big red hair,” she said. “We don’t know if she wrote it about herself, about me, or both.”

Rather than publishing a collection of poems, the family decided to turn each story into its own standalone illustrated book. Hailey said Eliza Picklepear was the obvious choice for the first release.

“It was always our favorite,” she said. “We felt like if we were going to start somewhere, we should come out swinging with the funniest and strongest one.”

The second book is already in the works and will focus on Hailey’s older sister. Titled Frog in My Pocket, the story follows a mischievous little girl who blames all her bad behavior on an imaginary frog living in her pocket.

“It’s about this imaginary friend getting her into trouble,” Hailey said, laughing. “Everything bad that happens is apparently the frog’s fault.”

While the stories are funny and lighthearted, the deeper meaning behind the project is impossible to miss. Hailey said becoming a mother herself changed everything.

“I think something shifted when I got pregnant,” she said. “My daughter will be two in July, and suddenly I had this overwhelming feeling that I wanted her to know my mom somehow. This is really for her. If other kids connect with the stories too, that’s amazing, but at the heart of it, I’m preserving my mom for my daughter.”

The project has also become a way for Hailey to process grief in a healthier, more hopeful way.

“She’s still part of my life,” Hailey said. “I think about her every day. I tell stories about her constantly. This book keeps her alive in a way that feels tangible.”

Hailey believes there’s power in carrying forward the creative work of loved ones after they’re gone.

“You don’t have to let their story end,” she said. “A friend of mine lost his brother, and he still uses his brother’s recorded drum tracks in his music. I think any way you can keep someone’s spirit alive through creativity is beautiful.”

In addition to illustrating the books, Hailey also works in filmmaking alongside her husband through their company, Lioness Films, where they focus on narrative storytelling rather than commercial content.

“I’m way more interested in meaningful stories than hollow content,” she said. “I want to create things that make people feel something.”

That same intentionality carries through every page of Eliza Picklepear. From the handwritten font to the playful illustrations, the book feels less like a product and more like a family heirloom being shared with the world.

Hailey is self-publishing the series and already has hundreds of copies arriving for launch events and local bookstore outreach. The books will also be available through her website, Etsy, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

“It doesn’t feel salesy because I’m doing this for my mom,” she said. “It feels different when you’re creating something to honor someone you love.”

In many ways, that’s exactly what this series is—a daughter reaching back through time, taking her mother’s words gently in her hands, and making sure they continue to live on for another generation.

Follow Hailey’s journey on Instagram @haileylionessart and pre-order your copy of Eliza Picklepear.