thedrifter
01-17-09, 06:54 AM
Angel book helps kids who are left behind
By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, January 18, 2009
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — This is the tale of a boy who brought an angel to life for a woman with a children’s story about duty and separation.
When military service requires dad or mom to leave home for an extended period, kids do their best to cope. But even in a nurturing environment, it’s hard for children to fully comprehend why there’s an empty chair at the dinner table.
A dozen years ago, when Joseph Musgrave was 2, his mother spun a yarn about an angel who helped a little boy deal with the absence of his deployed father. The threads of the tale she conceived resembled their own lives, since Joseph’s father was away at the time serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"He truly thought dad wanted to be away," Sugin Musgrave said of her son.
Over the years, Musgrave retold the story many times to her son and the children she met through her day care work. Musgrave eventually decided to write a book, though finding a kid illustrator was more difficult than imagined. In the end, after some false starts, she teamed up with Richard Warner, a 14-year-old Ramstein High School student, to produce "Butterfly in the Sky: Daddy’s Little Girl."
"The whole intent behind the book is to help people," Musgrave said.
Three more versions are planned. While the storyline is the same, Musgrave intends to switch out one or two of the central characters — the child and/or the deployed parent — to cover the four possible scenarios from a gender standpoint. The two girl versions feature a butterfly, while boys are visited by a blue jay.
One constant throughout is the angel who helps the child look for their deployed parent. Both the Musgraves and the Warners are churchgoing families, and the author sees the angel in the book as "something comforting and nourishing" that kids wouldn’t fear.
For Richard Warner, the chance to illustrate a book was too good of an opportunity to pass up. The book is intended for children ages 3 to 8.
Friends, he said, "thought it was cool that I had my artwork published in a book."
The high school freshman drew 22 color illustrations for the 29-page book. As an artist, one of the biggest challenges for Warner was correctly drawing the various service uniforms.
Finding the time to do it represented another hurdle. Drawn between March and June 2008, Warner had to squeeze the project into a schedule that included school, Bible study, Boy Scouts, trumpet practice and an art class at the youth center.
Despite the heavy load, Warner managed to get the project done within a relatively short time frame. With Musgrave’s blessing, he even slipped into some of the drawings a character he created years ago called "Gorky."
"There wasn’t that much polishing to do," Musgrave said of Warner’s work. "He hit it head on."
The self-published book, completed in October, sells for $14 through Amazon, of which the pair receives 75 cents. They earn $6 per copy if the book is purchased for $25 from AuthorHouse , the self-publishing company Musgrave is using.
Ellie
By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, January 18, 2009
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — This is the tale of a boy who brought an angel to life for a woman with a children’s story about duty and separation.
When military service requires dad or mom to leave home for an extended period, kids do their best to cope. But even in a nurturing environment, it’s hard for children to fully comprehend why there’s an empty chair at the dinner table.
A dozen years ago, when Joseph Musgrave was 2, his mother spun a yarn about an angel who helped a little boy deal with the absence of his deployed father. The threads of the tale she conceived resembled their own lives, since Joseph’s father was away at the time serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"He truly thought dad wanted to be away," Sugin Musgrave said of her son.
Over the years, Musgrave retold the story many times to her son and the children she met through her day care work. Musgrave eventually decided to write a book, though finding a kid illustrator was more difficult than imagined. In the end, after some false starts, she teamed up with Richard Warner, a 14-year-old Ramstein High School student, to produce "Butterfly in the Sky: Daddy’s Little Girl."
"The whole intent behind the book is to help people," Musgrave said.
Three more versions are planned. While the storyline is the same, Musgrave intends to switch out one or two of the central characters — the child and/or the deployed parent — to cover the four possible scenarios from a gender standpoint. The two girl versions feature a butterfly, while boys are visited by a blue jay.
One constant throughout is the angel who helps the child look for their deployed parent. Both the Musgraves and the Warners are churchgoing families, and the author sees the angel in the book as "something comforting and nourishing" that kids wouldn’t fear.
For Richard Warner, the chance to illustrate a book was too good of an opportunity to pass up. The book is intended for children ages 3 to 8.
Friends, he said, "thought it was cool that I had my artwork published in a book."
The high school freshman drew 22 color illustrations for the 29-page book. As an artist, one of the biggest challenges for Warner was correctly drawing the various service uniforms.
Finding the time to do it represented another hurdle. Drawn between March and June 2008, Warner had to squeeze the project into a schedule that included school, Bible study, Boy Scouts, trumpet practice and an art class at the youth center.
Despite the heavy load, Warner managed to get the project done within a relatively short time frame. With Musgrave’s blessing, he even slipped into some of the drawings a character he created years ago called "Gorky."
"There wasn’t that much polishing to do," Musgrave said of Warner’s work. "He hit it head on."
The self-published book, completed in October, sells for $14 through Amazon, of which the pair receives 75 cents. They earn $6 per copy if the book is purchased for $25 from AuthorHouse , the self-publishing company Musgrave is using.
Ellie