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Ever since I helped friends Jim Goff and Maureen Akey by illustrating their books, I’ve wanted to put together my own story with my own illustrations.
It all began with a conversation I had with a customer in my grocery store. I had done 2 drawings for his daughters, a frog and an elephant. It was years later that I illustrated “The Little Brook in the Field” for Jim Goff, w... More

Ever since I helped friends Jim Goff and Maureen Akey by illustrating their books, I’ve wanted to put together my own story with my own illustrations.
It all began with a conversation I had with a customer in my grocery store. I had done 2 drawings for his daughters, a frog and an elephant. It was years later that I illustrated “The Little Brook in the Field” for Jim Goff, which is about frogs, when the customer said “There are lots of books about frogs but I don’t see many about elephants.” In a 2 minute span I had the whole story in my head, including the “AuSable Chasm/ Elephant’s Head” connection.
I sketched elephants, boys, dogs and related scenes to accompany the basic storyline, adding more sketches as the story evolved. Though I started the project 4 years prior to printing, it wasn’t until 2011 that I first I had it ready enough to present to a publisher. Lawrence Gooley at Bloated Toe Publishing had just finished Gordie Little’s book titled “Champy Goes to School,” so I approached him to see what he thought. Now, over 20 revisions later, a finished product is the result.
What began as a 24 page story has morphed into 60 pages with over 130 full color illustrations. The tale takes a young boy and his dog on an adventure along the AuSable River in Keeseville, N.Y. Weaving in local history, nature, and a little bit of whimsy, (the discovery of an elephant along the way) the book allows your imagination to take you along for the ride.

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