Storybook brings slain child’s imagination to life

JUPITER, Fla. – The little girl’s white, four-post bed is empty, her favorite doll Natalie atop it. Her pink plate and cup are set on the kitchen table; her vitamins await. The last CD she listened to is in her little stereo, the last lesson she learned on the blackboard, the last month she was alive frozen on the unturned page of the calendar.

Since a relative’s Thanksgiving Day 2009 shooting rampage at their home, Jim and Muriel Sitton have faced a horrific balancing act: moving on past the time-stopping grief of losing their 6-year-old daughter Makayla Joy, and helping to realize her unfulfilled dreams.

One of Makayla’s hopes — to someday publish a book — has now come to life in “The Bear’s Castle,” a simple story of a little bear who wants to make all his wishes come true. Full story . MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press

Such a heartbreaking story. Have you ever wanted to publish a book?