FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Maggie McNair is a typical little girl. She’s into everything. And getting her hair brushed is one thing she does not have time for. She puts up such a fuss that her mother decides to teach her a lesson and not brush those locks for a while.

Maggie find out that basic hygiene is important when she discovers a spider in her hair.

Yuck.

Fortunately, “Maggie NcNair has Spiders in Her Hair” is a work of fiction. She’s the imaginary child of author Sheila Booth-Alberstadt. She is married to Stephen Alberstadt, and is the mother of Signe, Sam, Saxon, Saylor, Payton and Logan.

It was one of Booth-Alberstadt’s children who gave her the first “Maggie McNair” story. Booth-Alberstadt decided to write about the experience and teach her children an important lesson.

“I was writing about my daughter,” said Booth-Alberstadt. “I could not get her to brush her hair. This little gem just emerged on its own.”

Booth-Alberstadt credits her Norwegian grandmother for sparking her urge to write.

“She was always making up stories,” Booth-Alberstadt said. That experience and winning a magazine contest for her poetry got her thinking that maybe someday she could write more extensively.

She has praise for the man who brings even more color to the stories.

“The illustrator, Norris Hall, is from Murfreesboro, Tenn., and his illustrations are vibrant and fun.”

Booth-Alberstadt decided to share Maggie with schools and through readings at libraries.

“The comments I get through email are nice,” she said. “They absolutely make my heart pitter-patter.”

She was encouraged to write a second book that debuted earlier this month, “Maggie McNair Wears Stinky Underwear,” with Maggie learning about why it’s important to take baths and keep clean.

A third book on dental hygiene is coming shortly. She wrote that with the help of a local orthodontist, Glenn Glass of Daphne.

Another book, Booth-Alberstadt says, “is the grossest one,” with Maggie eating “boogers.”

“After that, I plan to write a book on manners,” she said.

“I wrote this (series) because kids love the first book,” said Booth-Alberstadt. “I wanted to talk about taking care of the body and the consequences if you don’t.”

Booth-Alberstadt was born in Norway, but came to Vero Beach, Fla. and went to college in Massachusetts. She returned to Florida to work at a TV station, but began work for an insurance company and “stopped in Montana.”

She came to the area to open an agency in Daphne. Her husband runs the agency now, and she is a full-time mom to their children, homeschooling some of them.

She writes the “Maggie” books on a laptop while her youngest children are around her.

While the series is bringing Booth-Alberstadt attention, (she is considering shopping “Maggie” to cartoon companies) another book she has written, “Under the Crybaby Tree,” has her heart.

“It’s based on a true story,” said Booth-Alberstadt. “I wrote it to explain to children who are in foster care, or the care of a relative, that it is not their fault, and they are loved.”

Booth-Alberstadt and her husband have adopted children of a relative who became involved with drugs and was unable to care for them.

“I also wanted to show them that there were consequences to things in life,” Booth-Alberstadt said.

The “Crybaby” story also prompted Booth-Alberstadt to begin her own publishing company.

“I would send the story out and publishers would reject it,” she said. She learned later that most children’s publishers considered the story “too heavy a subject.”

But Booth-Alberstadt says there “was not one book on the market” that addressed the issues of drug and alcohol abuse for young children. And a local judge told her that there are children who need that sort of story.

So, Booth-Alberstadt created her own company, SBA Books, to publish and market her stories.

“It has given me a master’s degree in public relations,” joked Booth-Alberstadt.