A little girl catches a small cat plush at a Mardi Gras parade, instantly becoming her favorite toy. She carries it everywhere, but one day she looks down and it’s gone. She has lost her precious kitty, leading her and her parents on an adventure to retrieve it.
For Samantha Boudreaux, this was the story of her life after her daughter, Cecilla, caught a kitty at a Mardi Gras parade in Metairie, La. Unable to find a replacement for the precious toy, Boudreaux and her husband were left constantly retracing their steps to locate it when it went missing. The experience eventually became inspiration for her book, “Where’d You Go, Kitty?”
“Everybody is telling me their stories now of when they left some precious stuffed animal at a store and had to go back for it or had to buy a replacement and try to fool their child,” Boudreaux said, referring to friends and family who have read the book. “I feel like I hit on something pretty relatable for a lot of parents or even people like just remembering their own childhood, remembering their own stuffed animal that was so important to them.”
At her baby shower, Boudreaux remembered being gifted two of the same stuffed animal by her aunt, who insisted that she would need a backup. Boudreaux originally waved her off, thinking they would be able to keep track of their daughter’s toys. But she quickly learned that keeping up with a kid and their beloved kitty was much harder than she expected.
“But I just had no idea what parenthood would look like,” she said. “One time, she left it at Barnes & Noble, and the next day we went back, and the staff had just placed Kitty with all the other stuffed animals that were for sale. And I was like: this is so funny that we do this, and I’m sure that we’re not the only parents who are doing this.”
The idea that she wasn’t alone in the unwanted adventure of relocating a lost toy pushed Boudreaux to write her book. She eventually submitted her idea to Pelican Publishing in New Orleans. After a month of silence, it seemed like they might not move forward with her book. But after she followed up, she received a phone call a week later from the head of Pelican Publishing saying they wanted to publish it.
“I was thrilled. I have a video of me and my daughter in her playroom, and I’m just squealing and hugging her and she doesn’t totally understand what’s going on,” Boudreaux said. “She was like three, so she’s just giggling with me and squealing with me and dancing around.”
Her publication then led to the next step in the process, the search for an illustrator. While the company gave her names to reach out to, none seemed quite right. Until she remembered her high school classmate, Kimberly Broadbridge Navarette, a talented artist who always spent her time in class doodling. Despite it being years since they last spoke, Boudreaux reached out through Instagram with an offer. After Navarette drew several test sketches, it became clear that she was a perfect fit.
“Working on this project with Sam really got me back into doing physical (non-digital) art again. Drawing and painting on paper forces me to slow down and be more in the moment,” Navarette said. “I could really relate to the main character in the book. A younger me and the current me would be very distressed in missing a beloved object.”
Boudreaux originally started out at USM as a theater major. She always loved storytelling but quickly realized the stage wasn’t meant for her. Her love for writing pushed her to change her major to journalism. She joined the Student Printz as a sophomore, moved up to editor her senior year and graduated from USM in 2011.
After graduation, Boudreaux began interning for Mississippi Congressman Steven Palazzo and later worked as a press assistant for Mary Landrieu in Washington. From there, she made her way back to the South to attend the University of Alabama School of Law, a decision inspired by her mother, who, while not practicing, is also a lawyer. She always told Boudreaux that if she didn’t know what she wanted to do, law school would be “a good feather in her cap.”
Boudreaux graduated from law school in 2015. She then moved back to her hometown of New Orleans, where she now works as an attorney at Wanek Kirsch Davies LLC as a civil defense attorney. At her firm, she focuses on writing arguments for other attorneys to use in court—putting her journalism degree and writing skills to good use—and allowing her to work from home and spend more time with her daughter.
“I have been working on my writing skills for a long time and I just love it,” Boudreaux said. “At some point I realized I really just love writing and trying to find the perfect word to say, trying to find the best argument to make to influence someone. So, it just feels like this is my passion, this is what I want to do.”
She is constantly looking at her surroundings in everyday life, awaiting inspiration for her next story idea. While it may drive her husband crazy, it has been helpful for Boudreaux, who already has a few story ideas in the works and will hopefully be teaming up with Navarette again to bring them to life.
“I just have this passion for telling stories and I also just think it’s so important to read to kids and share our lives with them,” she said. “So I hope that this inspires people to sit and read books with their kids at the end of the day.”
Sitting with her daughter at the end of the day and reading together is one of Boudreaux’s favorite activities. Especially reading her own copy of her new book to her daughter. It’s a tradition she hopes other parents continue to do, perhaps with her book as well.
“I hope I look like a passionate and a hardworking person who’s doing this to entertain people,” Boudreaux said. “I think it’s really powerful to sit and read to kids at night, and I feel a story like mine is relatable to kids and parents alike. I’m just really enthusiastic about this new chapter of my life.”
Boudreauxs’ book is set to release on Jan. 13, 2026, and it is available for preorder at Target, Walmart, Amazon and Barnes & Nobles. She is extremely proud of both her book and the life she leads. Being able to accomplish her dreams of writing and storytelling while being remembered as a good mother, friend and person is her biggest accomplishment.
“I’m thankful that I get to work from home and be with my daughter and spend so much time with her, and I’m proud to be doing motherhood, this way, I guess. And yeah, I’m certainly proud to be publishing a book that hopefully will impact kids and parents, families,” Boudreaux said. “I mean, if I can also be the next Dr. Suess, that would be amazing. That would be a wonderful bonus. But I think the most important thing is I hope I’m having a very positive impact on my daughter, my husband, these people who are in my inner circles. I hope I’m leaving a good impact on people.”