PV Reads

Each month, we feature a writer who answers five questions. This month, we are introducing you to Christine Hill, the author of Larry & Cricket- An Unlikely Friendship. It’s An unlikely friendship for sure but based on a real life and beautiful bond between Larry the Tortoise and Cricket the golden retriever dog. Friends for over eight years, this unlikely pair has over 165,000 followers on Instagram and have been featured in media around the world including National Geographic, Animal Planet, Ellen Tube, Buzzfeed, and their story has captured the hearts of people internationally from Japan, Australia, China, England and Iceland to name a few.

PV Magzine: Who illustrated Larry and Cricket?
Christine: It was really important to me to capture their huge personalities in cartoon form and I had a very clear idea in my mind for how that should look. I searched for some time for the right fit and eventually found a very talented illustrator from Ireland who had been following them on Instagram and had watched their stories daily. She understood their personalities and antics and so it was easier to communicate the direction that I wanted to take the illustrations. She did a fantastic job!

PV Magazine: How long have you lived on the Hill?
Christine: Well, I was actually born and raised in Australia. However, I have lived here in Palos Verdes now for over 20 years, and I definitely call PV home.

PV Magazine: Tell us how Larry and Cricket became your muses?
Christine: Having grown up in Australia I was always surrounded with animals- including two pet kangaroos. When I first arrived in Los Angeles I loved the city but didn’t think it might suit me long term until I discovered beautiful Palos Verdes. Then I knew I had a home where we could be surrounded by animals and have the best of a natural environment right in one of the best cities in the World! Since then I have rescued 100’s of animals and found loving homes for all sorts of furry friends, and of course there are some that just steal your heart and end up having a permanent home with us. Larry the tortoise was amongst the latter. When we rescued Larry he had been very badly abused and he was so frightened and shy and quite literally wouldn’t come out of his shell – until he met our golden retriever Cricket. Cricket never left his side and they became fast friends who now sleep together, take walks together and pretty much do everything together. It is such a beautiful, and unlikely friendship, that I started posting it on my social media to share the kindness between two different species and what a little love and a friendship could do. It immediately went viral and got picked up by all sorts of outlets like National Geographic, Animal Planet, Ellen Tube and news broadcasts around the World. People really responded to their daily antics and the feel-good story. Every day I would post and create stories of their adventures which were so well received. From there it was a natural extension to be turned into a children’s book of their unlikely friendship and their adventures.

PV Magazine: Is there anything else you would like to share about living on the hill and its influence upon you and your book?
Christine: Well, Palos Verdes is such a daily inspiration for the real life adventures of Larry and Cricket. There is always a stunning view, or amazing interaction with nature that is great for the soul and ideas for the book! It made it so easy to be surrounded with all these wonderful animals, landscape, the ocean and the kind community we have here. Blue skies, great weather, and wildlife and nature all round. Who needs more inspiration than that?!

PV Magazine: PVM: What was the last book you read?
Christine: Mythos by Stephan Fry. It’s a Modern telling of the Greek Myths.