Meredith Stack, author of the Patton and Peanut children’s book series, will hold two book signing events — one September 24, at the Brookside Community Club, 1 East Main Street, Brookside, and the second in October at Well Read Books in Hawthorne — to raise money for pediatric cancer research. Copies will be on sale for individuals and may also be purchased and donated to a sick child at Morristown Medical Center or another area hospital.   

Author Meredith Stack of Mendham came up with idea of writing the Patton and Peanut series as a way to raise funds after witnessing the death of a friend’s two-year-old son from neuroblastoma, a malignant brain cancer. That life-changing event, coupled with her own mother’s cancer diagnosis (thankfully, her mother is now cancer-free), led her to create the Patton and Peanut series, fun and light-hearted stories about two dogs who go on silly adventures and learn something along the way. The books, which have been featured on CBS This Morning and in Elle.com, can also be purchased on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

The proceeds of the Patton and Peanut series are donated to fund pediatric cancer research, which currently receives only about four percent of all cancer funding. And in researching children’s cancers, the author found that cures in children can often be successfully used on adults while cures for adults are not likely to be used on children, all the more reason to raise money for an underfunded program. That, Stack says, is why she chose to help sick children: “They deserve to live longer, fuller lives filled with joy and fun and void of machines and tubes. Cancer is devastating. Not only to the person who has it but for all the lives of people who love them. I believe we can find a cure. I believe we can because I have to believe that.”

For more information, visit Pattonandpeanut.com. Connect with Meredith Stack at [email protected].