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I know what to do when in Rome. I do as the Romans do, eating gelato or pasta when I am not buying leather shoes. When in Africa, I get as far into the rain forest as I can get (avoiding mosquitoes and malaria along the way) while savoring cassava leaves, beans gravy and the time with my friends who prepared the food. And, when in Moldova, while painting murals, I get interviewed on national radio and then on five television stations. (I'm quite sure that it is a record that will not be broken.) But, what do you do when you're in Ohio -- especially during the coronavirus pandemic?
Part of what I do is just like everyone else in most other places in and out of Ohio. I wash my hands a lot. I stay home a lot. I wear a mask that fogs up my glasses whenever I go into a store. I keep my distance. I wash my hands again. I rejoice now that I can buy hand sanitizer. And, I wish for the "good old days" that were just a very few months ago.
But, with or without a nasty little virus, one thing has remained the same. I spend a lot of time at my computer. I guess some people would play video games (but they bore me to tears) or watch Netflix (about the same reaction as video games). I've been working on children's books for the past two years and that work has been put on overdrive since I've been confined to home with little else to do. Recently, I've completed five books and so it's time for a little "show and tell".
Part of what I do is just like everyone else in most other places in and out of Ohio. I wash my hands a lot. I stay home a lot. I wear a mask that fogs up my glasses whenever I go into a store. I keep my distance. I wash my hands again. I rejoice now that I can buy hand sanitizer. And, I wish for the "good old days" that were just a very few months ago.
But, with or without a nasty little virus, one thing has remained the same. I spend a lot of time at my computer. I guess some people would play video games (but they bore me to tears) or watch Netflix (about the same reaction as video games). I've been working on children's books for the past two years and that work has been put on overdrive since I've been confined to home with little else to do. Recently, I've completed five books and so it's time for a little "show and tell".
ONCE UPON SOUTHERN AFRICAFull disclosure, I started this book well before the pandemic. It has fifty stories and fifty illustrations. I've been working on it for at least half a year. But, the final editing by some very good eagle eyes happened during the corona chaos.
My collection of folk tales from Southern Africa grew while I lived in Zambia for two years. I taught at an international school and asked librarians at other schools in the region if they had collections of tales. Librarians tend to be amazingly helpful. This group was no exception. I received a wealth of material. And, I gathered more tales as I traveled the region.
And, I traveled the region! I had amazing experiences. I paddled on a dugout canoe through the Okavango Delta of Botswana, searched for whales off the coast of South Africa, wandered around Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, explored game parks in Zambia, and survived (barely) another bout of malaria in Namibia from a trip to the world’s largest sand dunes. But, hands-down, no competition, the best experience I had was traveling to Bushmanland in northeast Namibia.
I wanted to see this region ever since I saw the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy”. I was warned in advance by the travel agency that they couldn’t guarantee that I’d see any of the San people. Besides, the San people no longer dress like they did in that movie. It didn’t stop me. I was a man on a mission and I was going to Bushmanland.
My guide knew that I was interested in photographing portraits. As we passed a Herrero woman in the absolute middle of nowhere, he said, “This woman will let you photograph her if we give her a ride.” Everyone was happy after that. As it turned out, the woman said she knew some Bushmen, and if we took her home, she could introduce us. That night, we camped next to the woman’s home, under magnificent Africa stars. Around a fire, we shared African folk tales. It was one of the most magical nights I’ve ever had anywhere in the world.
The following day, I was taken to see a San man who lived in her village. He very happily dressed up in their traditional clothing for my photographs. And, as it so happened, he was the star of the movie “The Gods Must Be
Crazy”! I told you I had amazing experiences in Africa.
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A FOWL CHAIN OF EVENTSThis story from Zimbabwe is part of my collection of fifty folk tales in Upon Southern Africa. Of course, I illustrated each of the fifty stories. But, when I created the art for this fowl tale, it was so beautiful that I had to make it into its own book. I personally believe that it is my most beautifully illustrated book -- so far. The reason for that is not my whimsical child-friendly illustrations alone. No, I was inspired by traditional fabric from Zimbabwe to create the background for each illustration. The combination is lovely.
I used to live next door to Zimbabwe in Zambia. It was the first country that I wanted to visit on vacation. But, shortly after I arrived, Zimbabwe fell into political turmoil at the hands of their own leader. It wasn’t safe to visit, at least not as much as I wanted to explore. I crossed the border to see both sides of Victoria Falls (and the view is best from Zimbabwe). I also visited the best animal reserve in the country, Hwange, where you get to see amazing game and sleep in designer tree houses at an equally amazing price. (I never told my mother how much it cost. She would not have enjoyed the safari if she knew.)
Since I lived in this part of the world, I was very familiar with a lot of things mentioned in the tale. I’d seen the palm trees, the machetes, the enormous ant hills, tasted the mangoes and heard the guinea fowl. But, in Zimbabwean folklore, the guinea fowl had a role that I’d never known. It was their job to call the sun every morning and let him know it was time to start his daily journey. As a result of a fowl chain of events, that task was not performed. What happened? How was it resolved? What’s the buzz? Why did I just say buzz? You’ll have to read A Fowl Chain of Events to get those answers.
the HALF ROOSTERIf you know how I travel, you know I prefer off the beaten path. Usually, way off the path. So, for the longest time, Albania has been one of my favorite destinations in Europe. It’s now kind of a trendy destination and the tourism industry has blossomed. But, I first went to Albania shortly after it opened up to the West. There were no travel guides. There were few taxis. I know this because I asked a policeman to help me get a taxi in the capital and he kind of chuckled, “Taxi?” Then, he blew his whistle, stopped the first car that passed by, and told the driver where to take me. Outside of the capital, it could very well have been a ride on a donkey cart. They were the main form of transportation at the time.
Quite by accident I stumbled upon the Kotoni family and their guesthouse on my first trip to Albania. Their home, a 200-year-old Ottoman building, was in the middle of the old town section of Gjirokaster. It was lovely, but it was the family that has kept me coming back to Albania over the years. Vita and Haxi adopted me into the family and I’ve returned three additional times. Who goes to Albania four times and is waiting anxiously for the fifth time? That would be me.
Rural life in a poor country is more difficult than most people can even imagine. However, the rooster in this story has more problems than most. His owner was hungry and cut him in half. The half that was not eaten was kept around as a pet. The rooster knew that something had to be done before the poor man grew hungry again. He hatched a plan to find wealth and fame with the help of his friends.
As I illustrated this book, I tried to keep in mind my Albanian experience. The castle on the cover is the one overlooking Gjirokaster. People in the book wore traditional Albanian clothing. The mountains looked like the ones I saw from Vita and Haxi’s front porch. But, most of all, I had to include a mushroom. No, it has nothing to do with fungus. During the Cold War, the leader of the country built 750,000 cement bunkers across the country. You can still find them on beaches, across fields, outside of cities, and in the middle of nowhere. The country was preparing for the imminent invasion from either NATO allies or the Soviet Union. The bunkers were designed to withstand tank assaults. But, that invasion never happened. You could search online to find what one of these mushrooms actually looks like, but wouldn’t it just be a whole lot more fun to read the Half Rooster?
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The BIBLE as SIMPLE as ABCSome of my earliest memories on Sunday mornings were in my grandmother’s Children’s Church services. And, it wasn’t just me. She taught this class for a few decades. I have no idea how many lives she touched.
Long before the arrival of the Internet with resources at your fingertips, Grandma created a lot of her own teaching materials. I mostly remember her ABC’s Bible verses. Except, it was a long time ago. My memory isn’t what is should be, and I didn’t remember all of the verses. To create this book, I relied on my faulty memory, asked a few of my cousins for help, reviewed a list that my mother wrote down, and made a few personal changes when other verses inspired some of my illustrations.
Of course, back in those days before the Internet, everyone – including my Grandma -- only used the King James version of the Bible. With very few exceptions, I mostly used the New King James Version for this book. I hope Grandma doesn’t mind.
SHIRLEY, GOODNESS and MERCYAll the Days of My Life
Inspiration for a story can come anywhere, even in the middle of a pastor’s sermon. Yes, there I was, sitting in the congregation as my pastor spoke about Psalm 23:6 and said, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Except, he said that he liked to think of Shirley, Goodness and Mercy as guardian angels. I don’t remember anything else about the sermon. As soon as he said that, I thought, “That’s a children’s book!” My mind thought of nothing else the rest of the sermon. I’m fairly certain that nobody else who heard the pastor’s message had that same experience.
It was a challenge for me to figure out how to use those three guardian angels. What kind of plot could I weave? I first thought of having a parent reading the psalm to a child as a bedtime story. But, inspiration finally solved the problem. It just seemed like a perfect fit to have King David tell his young son, Solomon, about how Shirley, Goodness and Mercy followed him all the days of his life. And, then the story just flowed. It’s kind of shocking to me how fast I can write a story. The same can’t be said about creating the illustrations.
I selected three specific incidents in the life of David when he met each of his guardians. If you went to Sunday School, you can probably guess a few of the events that I wrote about, but I’m not going to ruin the surprise for you here.
We all know that the part of this story with Shirley, Goodness and Mercy is made up. I used my humor as much as possible to tell this tale. But, I truly believe in guardian angels. It’s the only way I could have survived five bouts of malaria; multiple accidents by motorcycle, car and truck; rogues with knives in the Ivory Coast, an angry witch doctor and prison in Haiti; and near death by waterfall and/or drowning. Yep, I have been protected. Solomon was comforted when King David told him that his guardian angels would protect him all the days of his life. These are good words for anyone who might read this book to children. Everyone should have Shirley, Goodness and Mercy (or some other equally qualified angel) follow them all the days of their life.
So, what have you done wherever you find yourself? I'm hoping your answer involves gelato, meals with friends, or shopping for Italian leather shoes. As for me, I keep making my books. But, my next one will be in a different direction. I'm going to make a cookbook. Probably no gelato involved, but it will still have a lot of deliciousness.
PS If you want to know more about each of these books, click here.
PPS If you want paperback books, those should be available soon. I'm on the trail of a printer in Ohio that makes hardcover books. The Bible as Simple as ABC and Shirley, Goodness and Mercy should be available (hopefully) in September.