By Scot Ranslem, Saugus Community Contributor
Whether the book, The Trouble with Bubbles sees parents read to their kids, or finds anyone of any age simply read it for the enjoyment of having it bring a few smiles and giggles, its purpose can be that and more. It all started with a few poems written by a husband to his wife over a number of years. More recently, the writing became more focused and with the encouragement of friends, it grew into a project and a goal to produce a book that “Team Trouble” could be proud of.
I lead a team, along with my sister Pamela Struhs, and we are working to promote reading to kids and also support the arts. The storybook of poems leads you down the path of thinking one thing and then finding something else. Between the messaging in the poems meant to tell everyone that it is OK to be different, for kids not to stray too far away from home, or the frustration when you feel you are misunderstood, it has something for everyone. The book, with its surprise ending will undoubtedly capture anyone’s imagination.
The artwork is fully illustrated, as well as the imaginative cover, by high school and college students. An important part of creating this book and 4 more to come, was to have it be a platform to display the work of young artists…give them an opportunity to be published. An interesting side-note to the book, is that the artists were given full license to draw what they thought or felt after reading portions of the poem they were assigned. The only direction they were given was to read two verses and draw a picture, read two more and draw another picture, and continue until the poem was completed. It’s rare to see anyone take a hands-off approach when trying to create something like a book, but it was important to me to allow others to interpret the poems and create the artwork. Moreover, after each poem you get to see illustrator’s notes where the artists tell you what they were thinking or what they felt.
From cover-to-cover, each time you read the book you will discover something new. It’s very different in the way in which the book was started, to the manner in which a few of the poems were written, and ultimately how “Team Trouble” came together to produce such a creative book. It was so important for me to highlight the team and the artwork that yet another rare facet of the book, is that the author’s name is not on the cover. It’s not about me, it’s about the team. The book is far beyond even my own expectation because of the people that are involved with the book.
For more information, please visit our website at, www.teamtroublebooks.com, where the book can be purchased at a discount from the suggested retail price. And, a portion of the profit will be donated to schools that support the arts.
