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The Up People #1
Dr. Hickerup: The Hiccup Healing Man
After battling a stubborn case of hiccups, Billy turns to the quirky (yet brilliant) Dr. Hickerup for a cure. Once inside the doctor’s office, Billy begins a medical quest to discover which of the five hallway doors holds the answer to his hiccuping problem. Along the way, Billy meets a playful giraffe, tea-drinking monsters, and four pretty peacocks. Join Billy and Dr. Hickerup as they discover which door holds the cure!
46 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 30, 2012
5 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Katherine Ladny Mitchell
11 books10 followersKatherine Ladny Mitchell wrote her first literary work - bound with rainbow-colored shoelaces - at age seven. A lover of singing, writing, and rhyme, Katherine started playing with words as a child and never outgrew the habit.
A graduate of Covenant College with a B.A. in Sociology, Katherine has freelanced for years with narratives and articles in Tea Time Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, a local health magazine, and a couple anthologies. She's also authored three books available on Amazon.com and signed a book contract with Bandersnatch Books for her new cozy murder mystery, Not to Be, due to be released in the summer of 2025.
When she's not writing, you can find Katherine singing and dancing, taking tea with her husband, caring for 50+ animals on her new TN homestead, and educating her five Mitchell munchkins. She also enjoys fire-breathing and fire poi-twirling on occasion - just to shake things up.
Follow Katherine's homesteading hullabaloo, tea time stories, and publishing journey by joining her Cup & Quill Substack community!
A graduate of Covenant College with a B.A. in Sociology, Katherine has freelanced for years with narratives and articles in Tea Time Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, a local health magazine, and a couple anthologies. She's also authored three books available on Amazon.com and signed a book contract with Bandersnatch Books for her new cozy murder mystery, Not to Be, due to be released in the summer of 2025.
When she's not writing, you can find Katherine singing and dancing, taking tea with her husband, caring for 50+ animals on her new TN homestead, and educating her five Mitchell munchkins. She also enjoys fire-breathing and fire poi-twirling on occasion - just to shake things up.
Follow Katherine's homesteading hullabaloo, tea time stories, and publishing journey by joining her Cup & Quill Substack community!
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 7, 2014
Six years ago, I welcomed a blue-eyed baby boy into the universe and suddenly found an interest in writing children's books. When my son was little - even too little to smile, he hiccuped a lot. I've always enjoyed toying with rhythm and rhyme. And searching for a cure for stubborn hiccups seemed to be a universal conflict affecting both the oldest and youngest among us.
So I set to work reviewing many of the common cures for hiccups (drinking water upside down, getting a sudden fright, etc.) and giving them my own whimsical spin (hanging from a playful giraffe, getting unnerved by tea-drinking monsters in a closet, and so on). I also found myself growing fond of children's books that did not bore the parental readers. (If I'm going to read the same book twenty times, it would be nice if it could also make me smile.) I took care to weave in some subtle grown-up references in an effort to entertain both audiences.
I read a bit of the manuscript to some friends and vowed I'd finish the story by the end of the summer - before my teacher buddy had to return to her blackboard and chalk. Upon completion, I read the manuscript at a few get-togethers and received great reviews.
Unfortunately, no one working at a traditional publishing company had attended these get-togethers. After sending out Query letters to many a publisher, I decided to let the story lie on my shelf - as non-bound, basic white copy papers.
Then, a couple years later, a friend of mine called. She said she'd met a lovely artist whose style reminded her of my story. The three of us took tea in my living room, and that was the beginning of a beautiful partnership.
Chelsea Spring's artwork paints Dr. Hickerup's rollicking rhyme in technicolor. Her creative, whimsical style is a perfect match for the story. We enjoyed our mutually-inspiring collaborations on this work, and have nearly completed the second book: "Mrs. Trimitup: The Magical Hairdresser." I feel so grateful for her - she's a total Godsend and a true artist in her own right.
Now Dr. Hickerup can not only sit on my shelf - but on yours as well on your e-reader or bookcase!
I do hope you enjoy it.
So I set to work reviewing many of the common cures for hiccups (drinking water upside down, getting a sudden fright, etc.) and giving them my own whimsical spin (hanging from a playful giraffe, getting unnerved by tea-drinking monsters in a closet, and so on). I also found myself growing fond of children's books that did not bore the parental readers. (If I'm going to read the same book twenty times, it would be nice if it could also make me smile.) I took care to weave in some subtle grown-up references in an effort to entertain both audiences.
I read a bit of the manuscript to some friends and vowed I'd finish the story by the end of the summer - before my teacher buddy had to return to her blackboard and chalk. Upon completion, I read the manuscript at a few get-togethers and received great reviews.
Unfortunately, no one working at a traditional publishing company had attended these get-togethers. After sending out Query letters to many a publisher, I decided to let the story lie on my shelf - as non-bound, basic white copy papers.
Then, a couple years later, a friend of mine called. She said she'd met a lovely artist whose style reminded her of my story. The three of us took tea in my living room, and that was the beginning of a beautiful partnership.
Chelsea Spring's artwork paints Dr. Hickerup's rollicking rhyme in technicolor. Her creative, whimsical style is a perfect match for the story. We enjoyed our mutually-inspiring collaborations on this work, and have nearly completed the second book: "Mrs. Trimitup: The Magical Hairdresser." I feel so grateful for her - she's a total Godsend and a true artist in her own right.
Now Dr. Hickerup can not only sit on my shelf - but on yours as well on your e-reader or bookcase!
I do hope you enjoy it.
March 13, 2017
No longer having small grandchildren (the oldest is 6 ft. tall and the youngest could educate us all about space, rockets, and Minecraft), I seldom read picture books. But if I read them every day, I would want them to be as much fun as Dr. HickerUp. The rhymes are spot on and fun to read, while the illustrations are colorful studies of expression and detail. I can imagine any small child delving into the story over and over again just to see the pictures of dogs, giraffes, patent pending machines, and the very interesting doctor!
May 19, 2024
I think I'd like this more in paperback than on the Kindle. The illustrations are fun and the Kindle version doesn't do it justice. The ending is so fun. Some of the language is a bit clunky, which is why I couldn't give it more stars. Love the simple idea behind this picture book and how it is executed in a fun way that made my daughter [a frequent sufferer of hiccups] laugh! Fun family read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews