The Warren County Record joins newspapers across the state this month in the Reading Across Missouri campaign, a Newspaper In Education effort to encourage children to read and learn inside their community newspaper.Thursday’s issue, Jan. 16, features the first chapter of a new serialized story, “Lily’s Story.”Lily is a weimaraner who grows up in Joplin, with her best friend and owner, Tara. Tara sees that Lily is smart and has an incredible sniffer, so she trains her dog in search and rescue.The two become a team, doing their best to help people who are lost or missing loved ones. One day Lily becomes very sick. The dog’s recovery is a miracle, but her challenges are far from over.A month later, Joplin is hit by a massive tornado. The search and rescue dog’s bravery and resilience are put to the test as she is called upon to help put her city back together, piece by piece. This is a true story of hope and hometown heroes, celebrating the courageous spirit of one very special dog.Missouri author Carolyn Mueller wrote “Lily’s Story.” Mueller has written two children’s books, “Bubbles the Dwarf Zebu: A Story About Finding a Home at the Saint Louis Zoo” and the soon-to-be-released book on which the serial was based, “Lily: A True Story of Courage and the Joplin Tornado.”Mueller lives in St. Louis. To learn more about the author, visit carolynelizabethmueller.com.The illustrations for the story were created by Nick Hayes. Hayes draws political cartoons for the Guardian and New Statesman newspapers and writes graphic novels.His latest book is a study of the Dust Bowl in 1930s America, through the prism of Woody Guthrie, the famous folk singer. He lives above a flower market in East London. You can learn more about Hayes at foghornhayes.co.uk.“Lily’s Story” will appear in The Record for eight weeks. A companion teacher guide is available for the story here on the Newspaper In Education pages.The guide is correlated to Missouri’s Learning Standards.New Story for Young Readers Begins Jan. 16