Mastiffs are models for characters
A pair of real dogs are the models for characters in a children's book that its author hopes will better canine lives everywhere better.
Elizabeth Gall, a doctor of internal medicine in Erie, who graduated from Butler High School in 1995, used her own mastiffs, Liberty and Justice, for her self-published book “Liberty and Justice for Paul.”
The book, Gall said, was published in October and centers on the adventures of the fictional Liberty and Justice as they try to help their doggie friend Paul.
Gall said, “The children's book that I wrote is for basically teaching our younger generation about animal advocacy, something I am very passionate about.
“It's a book about tethering dogs all year round, when you leave a dog on a chain 24/7 in all kinds of inclement weather,” said Gall, the daughter of Richard and Rita Gall of Butler.
“It tries to teach children that tethering dogs, in Western Pennsylvania especially, is not a very good idea. It can be hazardous to the dogs' health,” she said.
“It sounds heavy, but it really isn't. The gist of it is when the dog is outside in the spring, he's getting bitten by mosquitoes,” said Gall. “My dogs, Liberty and Justice, try to help him.”
“The little dog is Paul and Liberty and Justice are trying to get him off the chain, and he always gets caught and put back on the chain. In the end, they build a fence for him so he doesn't have to be chained,” Gall said.
“Liberty and Justice for Paul” was illustrated by Gall's cousin, Jeff Salisbury of Sewickley, who lived in Butler between 2003 and May 2015.
“He helped me tremendously,” said Gall. “Without his illustrations, it's just words on paper. He did a great job.”Salisbury said he is mostly a self-taught artist who draws comics for small publishers.“They're mostly in the horror genre, which is the exact opposite of this kids' book,” said Salisbury.“Paul,” which Gall asked him to illustrate in late 2014, is his first children's bookSalisbury said, “All of the art was done in pencil on paper, then scanned into the computer where the colors were done using a program like Photoshop.“Most of the illustrations were inspired directly from the script. Sometimes there were minor alterations after I would send them to Beth,” he said of the collaborative process between artist and writer.“It took about two months to complete. I hope I'll be doing the sequel — the first one was a blast to draw,” Salisbury said.And Gall is planning a sequel.“'Paul' is the first book of what I hope will be a series,” Gall said. “I am working on a second one already. It's going to be about pit bulls in general and why they aren't all bad.”“As long as I can remember, animals have been my thing. I wanted to be a veterinarian, but I am allergic to just about every animal, so that would have been hard,” she said.“Now I take allergy medicine and allergy shots and wouldn't give up my animals for anything” she said, noting she and her husband, David Karns, a financial adviser, have three dogs and 100 or more fish spread out in four aquariums in their home.Gall said she has sold 377 books through Amazon since it was published on Oct. 8.A portion of the proceeds from the book sales goes to Dogs Deserve Better, an anti-tethering organization.“For the first month since publication, we donated $250 and plan to continue to donate each month,” said Gall.
