Illustrator draws on life lessons in 'Your Song'

By Doug Norris/Arts & Living Editor

A children's book illustrator with local ties was in town recently to promote "Your Song," the first in a series of personal growth and leadership stories for children.

The books, written by Colorado author Mark Hoog and illustrated in colorful, cartoon style by Robert J. Aukerman, follow the children of Walden as they undertake adventures in the "Growing Field," where they learn life-changing lessons through story.

"Your Song" follows the plight of young Maxx, who is desperate to find his own unique gifts and talents in the world. Then he is told a Growing Field story of a young eagle named Nightingale, who can't yet fly and feels inadequate after comparing his talents to other animals he meets on his journey.

"The concepts in the book are really adult concepts," said Aukerman, who studied software engineering in college and has traveled the world working on scuba and ski films, creating storybooks for the Internet and animation for television and film.

"It's unique in that it's a series of books that directly teach children about the concepts of leadership."

Aukerman's first foray into the world of book illustration was a case of lucky timing.

"I draw, so I did a series of pictures for kids of a friend of mine," he said. "He put them on the wall. As it happened, he knew the author of the book. When Mark came over and saw the pictures on the wall he said, 'This is the guy I want to do those books.'"

Hoog had written all six stories. But Aukerman's experience in visual storytelling altered the original concept slightly, creating a variety of settings and emphasizing a framing device that helps round out the narrative.

"Art is just a problem-solving process," Aukerman said. "Just like engineering. In this case you're just trying to tell a story, basically, the best way it can be told."

Aukerman's work with private, corporate and government agencies includes developing products for education, entertainment and advertising. His cartoon characters have taught children around the world about topics as diverse as gourmet cooking and scuba diving.

The artist admits that his venture into children's book illustration took him "in a little different direction, but one I'm happy to follow." But reading into his family tree suggests that it may have just been a natural extension.

His grandfather, Robert C. Aukerman, was an early pioneer in reading education, serving as professor of reading at the University of Rhode Island and writing numerous textbooks. His grandmother, Louise R. Aukerman, co-authored many of those books and served as a kindergarten teacher in Richmond during the 1960s. At 92 today, she lives in Kingston.

Aukerman said that each of the Growing Field books focuses on a different "leadership seed that gets harvested." Topics include dreams, goals, work ethic, attitude, responsibility, determination, inner strength, confidence, giving and sharing. The books will come out about every six months.

Subsequent stories will include: "The Dream Machine" (choosing to capture your goals and dreams in life); "Field of Dreams" (planting and growing personal seeds of success); "Treasure Island" (navigating your way past adversity); "Magic Mountain" (perseverance to climb your mountains in life); and "The Gift" (the best gift in life: giving).

A strain of transcendentalist thought runs through the series. All of the characters come from the town of Walden, and the ideas of Thoreau and Emerson emerge through the stories. "Your Song" even opens with a quote from Emerson's "Self Reliance": "Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. He is like a ship in a river; he runs against obstructions on every side but one, on that side all obstruction is taken away and he sweeps serenely over a deepening

Channel into an infinite sea. Every man has this call of the power to do something unique and no man has any other call."

Working with Hoog has inspired Aukerman to try his hand at other projects. He's illustrating another book about a humpback whale named Bob that gets lost in the ocean.

A portion of the Growing Field series profits goes toward the Children's Leadership Initiative. The two men are using a recent grant to promote the book to high schools, where students are transforming it into a play and teaching the concepts through drama to younger students. While originating in Colorado, the initiative could one day become a national project.

"Learning is a lifelong process," Aukerman said, "and this is a book that will stick with you for a long time."

Aukerman will return to southern Rhode Island in the spring of 2006 for a book-signing tour. In the meantime, "Your Song" is available in Wakefield at Waldenbooks, in North Kingstown at Learning Express and Wickford Toy and Stationary, in Warwick at Barnes & Noble and in Providence at Wayland Toy and Stationary, Books on the Square and Brown University Bookstore. It's also available at amazon.com.

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