The first book, Timothy Turtle, was born when I had my surgery. I was literally "a turtle on my back." I would lie in my hospital bed and notice something that needed to be done, but because I was a "turtle on my back", I could not even water my flowers. Like Timothy, I eventually recovered, but not completely. Timothy, with the help of his friend, Tobias, learned that he could still do some things, like swimming in the lake, but he could not do everything. Timothy had to find joy by doing what he could and by being with his friends. The book also includes a kind deed by a child, who gets Timothy off his back and on the road to recovery. The young boy in the wheelchair also learns that he can enjoy the races even if he can't run.

Jo Ellen Oliver was a teacher and counselor for more than 30 years. She began writing at age 16 when she won a college scholarship from The Atlantic Monthly magazine for her account of the Texas City Disaster in 1947. She lived through the disaster and wrote about it later. Because of her scholarship, she attended the University of Pittsburgh but graduated from the University of Texas in her home state. She later earned a master's and doctorate from Auburn University and the University of Georgia. Jo Ellen and her late husband, John, had two sons and a daughter. One son is no longer living but the second son, David, lives with his family in Atlanta. Her daughter, Julie, a mother of four, lives in Portland, Oregon. Oliver also has 10 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. Oliver has published two previous books: Then and Now and The Man Under the Bridge.