Sarah Villarreal, who taught at Baker Middle School and Baker High School for five years, published her first children’s book in 2024.

She moved to the Portland area a year ago.

“I was entertaining the idea of writing it my last year of teaching, and my students said I should do it,” she said.

So she did.

“Mrs. V and the Misplaced Planet” is the story of why Pluto is no longer considered a planet, along with facts about Pluto and how it is now categorized.

Her literary agent, she said, compared Mrs. V to the modern-day Mrs. Frizzle of the Magic School Bus series.

The book is available at Betty’s Books in Baker City, as well as Olympia Publishers in London, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s and Amazon, where it has sold out three times.

While working in the Baker School District, Villarreal taught English language arts, health, PE, yearbook and photography.

She credits her two boys, Casey, 5, and Carson, 2, with inspiring her creativity by asking questions.

For this one, the question was “Why isn’t Pluto a planet anymore?”

“My little boys are characters in my book, along with me and my nieces,” she said. “They love seeing themselves in the book — I think I’ve read my book to them over a hundred times.”

She received a copy of the book in August 2024 — just in time for her son’s birthday.

Villarreal is no stranger to science and writing — she double majored in astronomy and English.

“I’ve always been interested in space,” she said.

The book is written in rhyme.

“I love poetry,” she said. “It was one of my favorite topics to teach.”

The book was published by Olympia Publisher’s imprint for children’s literature, Bumblebee Books.

The book is illustrated by Villarreal’s sister, Jenna Lumb.

“She did amazing — I think I’m a nightmare to work with,” she said with a laugh.

She said her first draft took about six months, and she submitted the book to more than 50 agents until one accepted the project.

“I had an entire Excel spreadsheet — it was a year of a lot of rejection,” she said.

But she persisted, and now she has two more books in the works: “Mrs. V and the Sleepy Shark” and “Mrs. V and the Sad Swan.”

She has no shortage of ideas, thanks to her curious sons.

“I have a Word doc of all these questions Casey has asked me,” she said. “I have a really good idea list to choose from.”