Sometimes she shows up in uniform. Sometimes she doesn’t. But when Palos Heights Police Officer Lindsey Vanderlaan steps into a classroom, she brings something most cops don’t: a picture book and a message about self-worth.
Vanderlaan has been reading her debut children’s book, The Little Man in the Clock, to students across the south suburbs, reminding them they matter, even when they feel small.
“The story is about a little man that keeps the time running,” Vanderlaan said, sipping coffee at Rustic Knead in Lemont.
“He starts to feel unappreciated, like he’s not doing a good job, so he stops. Then the family goes about their day not knowing what to do or when. The last page says: ‘No matter how small you may feel on this earth, you’re truly important and have so much worth.’”
That sentence is the heartbeat of her book. It’s also the reason she keeps showing up in classrooms like Little Learners Preschool and Chippewa Elementary School.
The idea came to her back in high school. She wasn’t writing stories then. She wasn’t planning to. But the story stuck.
“I never really wrote growing up,” she said. “But I just sat down and the idea came to me.”
Years later, while in college, she came back to it. She finished the manuscript, self-published it through Amazon KDP, and eventually partnered with a professional printer to offer a hardcover edition.
The book is now available on her website.
The illustrations—bright, clean, and expressive—were drawn by Megan Vandermeer, a fellow Trinity Christian College alum Vanderlaan connected with through the school’s art department.
“She did such a great job that I just wanted her again for the second book,” Vanderlaan said.
That second book is already in progress.
She’s keeping the details quiet for now but said it will follow a similar structure. Another meaningful message, built for kids to carry with them.
And they do carry it. One moment, in particular, has stayed with her.
“One of the teachers asked the kids, ‘Can anyone tell me what the message of this story was?’ And this little first grader said, ‘Even if you’re small, you’re important and you’re worth so much.’ I almost teared up.”
Other reactions are simpler, but they still land.
“Sometimes a kid will just raise their hand and say, ‘I like your book.’ It’s not a question. It’s just so cute.”
Vanderlaan grew up near Grand Rapids, Michigan, but moved to Illinois for college and never left. While studying at Trinity, she worked as an administrative assistant with the Palos Hills Police Department.
That side job became a career.
She’s now a full-time officer in Palos Heights, balancing law enforcement with school visits, publishing, and community events. The schedule gets messy. But it works.
“I was on the night shift when I started working on the website,” she said. “What are you going to do at 3 a.m. on a random Tuesday? I’d be building the site. One night I looked up and it was 8 a.m. I’d been up all night. It was crazy, but worth it.”
Her unusual hours make school visits possible and offer a built-in lesson for the kids she meets.
“I always tell them: I’m a police officer, but I’m also a writer,” she said. “You don’t have to be one thing. You can do a bunch of things. And you don’t have to look a certain way to be any of them.”
Outside of work and writing, Vanderlaan keeps moving. She’s currently training for a Spartan Race, a 10K obstacle course filled with mud, climbing walls, and underwater challenges.
“I love getting into different things,” she said. “Traveling, fitness, just trying stuff. I once drove from here to California by myself. It was the most fun trip I’ve ever taken.”
But even with the badge, the races, and the road trips, she keeps coming back to the little ideas. And the kids.
“If you just have a little idea, write it down and come back to it later,” she said. “You don’t have to finish everything all at once. Just start.”
