Today's the day I've been waiting for.
I can hardly wait until my feet hit the floor.
My clothes are ready, they're cleaned and pressed.
In a few short moments I will be dressed.
Down to the kitchen to get something to eat.
Should I have cereal, or a breakfast treat?
from "Today's the Day! My New Shoes"

Until a few weeks ago, the only people who ever heard of the book, "Today's the Day! My New Shoes" by Maureen Frew and Kate Simmons were the 5-year-olds in Maureen's Avonworth Elementary kindergarten classes, where she would read her story every year.

Some of those kids are now high school freshmen and sophomores, because it took 10 years for Maureen to decide to publish her book with the help of fellow kindergarten teacher Kate Simmons, who has taught at Avonworth Elementary for five years.

The story line began to take shape back when Maureen was completing her teaching degree, and the instructor assigned students to write their own books.

"The plot came from something that really happened," Maureen said. "One evening, my husband, Tim, took Caitlin, our older daughter, to buy a pair of shoes. She came home with pink Converse hightops. I had sent them for Easter dress shoes. So I wrote the book about them going shoe shopping."

The incident provided the original story for her assignment, with illustrations by Tim Hartman, who was in Maureen's graduating class at Avonworth High School. "He was working in New York at the time, but he sent pen and pencil drawings."

"It's a cute story," Tim said. "What made it fun was drawing one character in so many situations. And Maureen allowed me to do whatever I felt like doing with the story. You don't usually get that kind of freedom."

But the thought of publishing was still a decade away.

Last May, Maureen and Kate noticed the books that children were buying at a book fair. "Some of the selections just didn't seem to have that much quality," Maureen said. She showed Kate her book, and said, "If those books sell, so could this one."

Kate took it home, made a few changes, and a writing partnership was born.

"You have to have a special kind of friendship to run ideas back and forth and finally get it to where it works," Maureen said.

The duo enthusiastically jumped into the project, with Kate sorting through potential literary agents until finding one that she and Maureen believed would best represent their long-range plans.

"We had the words and the illustrations, and then we got a design team that gave us ideas [for layout] and we made the choices," Maureen said.

For four months, it was "…a back-and-forth process that could sometimes become tedious," Kate said. "Then, when the proofs finally came to my house, I ran to Maureen, yelling, 'It's here! It's here!'"

By mid-October, it was listed on Amazon, "and we're already in the Carnegie!" Kate was quick to point out.

The team -- Maureen lives in Kilbuck, Kate in Ohio Township -- has written five sequels to "Today's the Day! My New Shoes," waiting now for Tim to provide the illustrations.

"We know how busy he is, performing in a Broadway show, but he's a fabulous illustrator," Maureen said. "We wouldn't want to go with anyone else."

While the cover, as well as a few interior pages, have color, the Hartman illustrations remain black and white. "We want children to use their imaginations," Maureen said. "And the main character is not named. Book by book, she'll get new friends and her world will expand."

And how many books have the authors planned?

"When we started, we had ideas for six more books," Kate said. "But then people would buy the book and send us their ideas for another one. Titles such as 'Today's the Day! A Trip to the Dentist' or 'Today's the Day! A Trip to the Zoo.' The series could be endless."

"In the [kindergarten] world, everything a child does is a 'first time,'" Maureen explained. "All of these firsts are big deals to 5-year-olds."

Some of the topics will touch upon serious subjects -- the death of a pet or a close relative. Maureen also foresees the series growing up with her readers. "Today's the Day! My Senior Prom" could be an eventual title.

"We could have put off doing it. There's never a perfect time for taking on things like this, so we just did it," Maureen said. "It helps that our children help us with the technology and that we have 5-year-olds who give us ideas."

Kate added, "And it helps that we have husbands who let us do what we need to do."