Highland Park native teams with 96-year-old grandmother to tell the true story of Little Britches

Big stories can come from small beginnings — and sometimes, four little hooves.

Written by North Shore native Emily Tuchman and her 96-year-old grandmother, new children’s book “The Adventures of Little Britches” tells the true story about a baby goat nursed back to health by Tuchman’s brother, Alex.

It all began 23 months ago when Little Britches the goat was born to mother Nectar at Spikenard Farm – Honeybee Sanctuary in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where Alex Tuchman serves as director.

Unlike his twin sister, Cardamom, Little Britches was not robust and healthy but rather runty and small.

“If this would have happened out in nature, Little Britches wouldn’t have made it, because his mom also rejected him and wouldn’t let him nurse,” Alex Tuchman, originally from Highland Park, explained to The Record. “Seeing that, of course, your heart is like, ‘No. I’m not just going to let this little guy die. We’re going to take care of him.’

“So, I would go and milk his mom and then save that milk, put it in a bottle and feed Little Britches so that he got the same milk that his sister Cardamom was getting, and that really brought him around.”

Alongside the team at Spikenard Farm who would take shifts to help save Little Britches, Alex Tuchman kept Little Britches warm and fed — every three hours, including in the middle of the night.

Their bond grew, and Alex Tuchman and Little Britches embarked on mini adventures together, from a joint visit to the bank to the school where his wife is an early childhood teacher.

As their story unfolded, Alex and Emily Tuchman’s grandmother, Anita, also a retired English teacher, was struck with inspiration and determined to write up this true story as a children’s book.

She sought a co-author in her granddaughter, Emily, who is a primary care physician in Glenview. Although her writing experience was limited to scientific writing at the time, Emily Tuchman agreed to go on the intergenerational, long-distance, co-authorship journey with New York-based Anita Tuchman.

“Every couple of nights from January 2025, probably until July of that year, my grandma and I would sit on the phone … and we would just write this story together,” Emily Tuchman said. “We’d go back and forth with which words she liked better, and she’s very particular, but it was such a fun process.”

The book is filled with the values with which Emily and Alex were raised.

“It is about care and compassion for nature and animals,” Emily Tuchman said. “And it’s about community, and it’s about love.”

Picked up for publication by the Homestead Press, “The Adventures of Little Britches” was released on Oct. 30, 2025, and it has since been well received by parents and children alike.

“I’m so happy to say that kids love it, especially kids who live in cities and they don’t really know much about nature or goats or even tending to a goat and feeding a goat,” Emily Tuchman said. “And so it’s fun for them. And I think it’s important for kids who live in cities to be exposed to this kind of thing and kind of help them to learn about the natural world and connect with it.”

These days, Little Britches is thriving at Spikenard Farm – Honeybee Sanctuary, and visitors can watch him blissfully follow Alex Tuchman around.

“Out of the whole herd of goats, he’s the one who comes right up to you at the fence, and if you open the gate, he’ll just pop right out and come say ‘hi’ and hang out with you,” Alex Tuchman said of Little Britches’ disposition. “And he still follows me around — like if I go give a tour to somebody, he’ll be delighted to just go on a walk with us.”

He continued, “I’m so pleased that the goats have also been put onto the center stage because the honeybees are usually the thing that people know us about, but now, Little Britches is … a celebrity all of a sudden.”

As for Anita and Emily Tuchman, a second book isn’t off the table, and Anita is already raring to go for the next one.

“The day that we finally got the book published, my grandma said, ‘This is just the beginning,’” Emily Tuchman laughed. “At age 96, she said that to me — she goes, ‘This book has legs. We need to make a sequel. Let’s get to work.’ I so admire her. … It’s a true story, so we don’t want to make up a story just so we can have a sequel, but we are always open to more opportunities.”

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