Aurora couple’s children’s book highlights Chicago landmarks

The husband and wife writing team of Tad and France Mitchell recently published their first children’s book, “Where Is the Sears Tower?”

The book, written by Tad and illustrated by France, follows the story of Peter Pigeon, who flies all the way from the University of Notre Dame to Chicago to visit his grandfather at the Sears Tower, renamed Willis Tower.

“We lived in Minnesota and I commuted to Chicago a lot,” Tad said. “I got the idea (for the book) from sightseeing.”

The couple now lives in Aurora and can visit their beloved landmarks that much easier.

The book is illustrated with pictures of famous Chicago buildings and landmarks — Soldier Field, the Chicago River and the Magnificent Mile, to name a few.

It took France almost five years to finish all the paintings for the book.

“I’ve never painted buildings before,” she said. “It would take me two or three tries to get it right.”

The illustrations in the book are highly detailed, with every shadow and window in its place. France says she told her husband that his story needed to be as good as her paintings.

On his journey Peter Pigeon meets many animals with very distinct personalities, such as a mothering Rabbit and a wise old owl.

“The book is a combination of ‘Are You My Mother,’ ‘Where’s Waldo’ and ‘The Little Prince,’ ” Tad said.

The book comes with a valuable lesson. At the start of the story, Peter’s mother tells him to remember his “inner compass.” The inner compass represents Peter’s morals, conscience and the remembrance of where he came from.

The life lesson comes with a school lesson too. A section in the back of the book lists facts about every building and landmark mentioned in the story.

“Where Is the Sears Tower?” comes in paperback and hard cover and is available through Amazon.com or the authors’ website, whereisthesearstower.com.

If bought off the website, the book can be personalized. The website also lists local book stores that sell the book, as well as an option to buy canvas or paper prints of the illustrations.