Patty Ihm Releases Heartfelt Middle-Grade Debut “Goldie Bird"

A Story of Family, Friendship, and Finding Home

ILLINOIS AUTHOR, FARMER, AND FOSTER CARE ADVOCATE RELEASES COMING-OF-AGE NOVEL AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, AND LOCAL RETAILERS

Delkab, Illinois — May 2025 — Local author, former early intervention therapist, and longtime foster mom, Patty Ihm, has released her debut middle-grade novel, Goldie Bird, a coming-of-age story about friendship, loss, and the search for belonging. The book is now available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and some local retailers (Cracker Jax and Robin’s Nest Bookshoppe). 

Goldie Bird centers on 11-year-old Goldie, who’s grappling with the loneliness of her sister leaving for college and her mother’s distraction after a family loss. When Goldie accompanies her mother to Heritage, she meets Kip—a boy with an adventurous spirit—who helps her rediscover joy in small, everyday moments. Their bond becomes a lifeline as she learns to trust, let go, and grow.

“Goldie Bird holds so many pieces of me,” says Ihm. “It’s about learning to find yourself again in the quiet moments, when everything around you is changing. I hope readers—especially young ones—see that they’re not alone in the way they feel.”

A mother to three biological, six adopted, and 18 foster children, Ihm brings a rare authenticity to her storytelling. Her work is deeply informed by her life on a small Illinois farmette—known as Ihm Home Farm—where she raises chickens, tends to beehives, and writes in the in-between moments of motherhood and homesteading.

Her 2022 memoir, Isn’t That Enough? Musings of Motherhood & the Meaning of Life, offered readers a glimpse into the emotional realities of foster care and parenting. With Goldie Bird, Ihm shifts to fiction but continues exploring the themes that define her life: resilience, love, and the everyday acts that make a house a home.

With its tender prose and emotionally resonant themes, Goldie Bird is perfect for middle-grade readers—and anyone who's ever felt a little out of place.

---

About Goldie Bird:

Eleven-year-old Goldie’s world is changing fast, and most of it is out of her control. Loneliness overcomes her as her beloved sister, Elise, goes off to college, and the recent loss of her great aunt consumes her mother’s emotions. Goldie feels adrift and out of place. 

But when she joins her mother for a trip to Heritage where her late aunt lived, Goldie forms an unlikely friendship with Kip, a sweet boy with an infectious sense of adventure. Kip shows Goldie the carefree thrills of birch bending and secret caves where the two bond over common experiences and escape the complexities of the adults around them. 

As she reluctantly returns to her life, Goldie must adjust to being a middle schooler as things at home become more challenging. Despite her deep love for her sister and mother, Goldie feels unsure of where she fits in their lives, forcing her to grapple with the bittersweet aspects of growing up and letting go of the way things used to be. 

With her frequent letters from Kip and her new friend, Kate, by her side, Goldie tries to navigate all that comes her way on the quest for acceptance and belonging. In this timeless, coming-of-age novel, Goldie symbolizes the universal experience of deep familial connections, friendship, and self-identity.

---

About Patty Ihm:

Patty Ihm is a writer, former early intervention therapist, and teacher living in Illinois on a farmette where she is a mother to many; three biological, six adopted, and 18 children she and her husband have offered their home to as foster parents—some for a day and some to stay forever. Her debut middle-grade, coming-of-age novel, Goldie Bird, was published in 2024 by Our Galaxy Publishing. She is also the author of Isn’t That Enough? Musings of Motherhood and the Meaning of Life, a memoir published by Our Galaxy Publishing in 2022, and Ode to a Boy, a self-published work dedicated to her now-grown sons. 

Fueled on coffee and the soul-cleansing therapy of the written word, Patty tends to thirty-something chickens, a mix of hens and roosters, nine bee hives, and a thriving garden. In the quiet parts of the day (and sometimes amidst the chaos of life), Patty finds pockets of time to write and share her experiences with others.