Each location in Oskee's adventure is chronicled not only in words but in pictures. Holzgrafe hired Urbana photographer Holly Birch Smith to take photos of Oskee at various campus sites familiar to U of I students, alumni and supporters.

"The book is written from the perspective of what he saw," said Holzgrafe, who is referred to in the book as Oskee's "pet mom."

Holzgrafe finished the 35-page, self-published book in October and is now selling copies. It started out as a creative writing project while Holzgrafe was working as a live-in house mother at the 4-H sorority on the U of I campus from fall 2002 to spring 2004.

Holzgrafe, a 1970 U of I graduate, was instructed to write a story for a creative writing class she was taking at Parkland Community College in Champaign. She pondered what to write about until she hit upon an idea involving her dog — a frisky Bichon Frise.

"I would take Oskee for walks and things would happen," she said. "So I thought, 'I ought to write a story about him.'"

Holzgrafe had a lot of fun with the writing assignment, then decided to develop the story into a book after she moved in 2004 back to Quincy, where she works as a receptionist for Blessing Physician Services.

As an alumna and avid Illini fan herself, Holzgrafe has a deep affection for the U of I campus and the university's history and traditions. In fact, her dog's name was inspired by the college's traditional fight song, "Oskee Wow Wow," which is sung at football games.

Holzgrafe said Oskee did a good job of posing for pictures at various campus locations in all kinds of weather conditions during three prolonged shooting sessions.

"We put him on a ledge in the football stadium, and I was scared to death the wind was going to blow him off onto the field. It was unbelievably windy and cold that day," she said.

Holzgrafe said she thinks the book will appeal to U of I alumni, because it contains photos of many familiar campus locations along with Oskee's friendly banter. She also believes pet lovers in general and children will enjoy the book.

"It's a cute book," she said. "It's got great pictures, and the dog looks adorable. It's just fun."