PERRYSBURG – Swanton native Merrill Rainey remembers the moment he first understood the magic of bringing a story to life with pictures. What began as a look through a senior art show at Kent State University, became a profound discovery of the importance that illustrations hold for a child’s imagination.
Rainey most recently published his children’s book On the Air with Dr. Doodlebug, which is about how different bugs can call into a radio show to talk about their problems, and Dr. Doodlebug always has an answer for them.
“This story is co-created with Susan E. Goodman, and we both kind of worked with the same editor over the last couple years on different projects: Jill Davis,” Rainey said.
As of this year, Rainey has eight published books.
On Nov. 7, the bookstore Gathering Volumes in Perrysburg held a release party for Rainey’s newest children’s book.
“For storybook style books, like Dr. Doodlebug, we always do a read aloud. Then, we did a draw along. I had an activity specifically towards nature journaling because Dr. Doodlebug draws out all of his answers to the bugs in his journal,” Rainey said.
The inspiration for this book came from Rainey’s love of radio shows.
“I had the idea of the radio show, it seemed to fit in a little bit more of a modern fashion, as opposed to, written letters. But I am a big fan of radio and I listen to a lot of talk shows. In a recent interview, I talked about how this one is kind of inspired by the evening radio show “Delilah” where people call in and ask for advice,” Rainey said.
On the Air with Dr. Doodlebug took four years to complete.
“For a single illustration, it could take up to a week or more, depending on the complexity of the artwork. Traditionally, to finalize a picture book is about two years,” Rainey said.
Rainey takes his inspiration for his books from the world around him.
“I’m a big observer of the world around me. I just keep my eye on different things and I read a lot that comes into play as well,” Rainey said.
Rainey said while producing this book, he had to do a lot of research about different species of bugs.
A piece of advice that he provides to young writers is the importance of practice, discipline and having motivation.
“First and foremost is to learn to write and spell well so that you have that good foundation of how those things work. Once you are solid with that, then just practice every day with your writing. You only get better the more you do it. Reading other people’s work and how they write their stories will help you to understand how to write your own stories as well,” Rainey said.
“A lot of the time, when you tell a story, it’s about something that’s happened, has already happened to you or happened to somebody that you know. When you’re creating stories, you’re telling stories,” Rainey said.
There are a limited number of signed copies of On the Air with Dr. Doodlebug available at Gathering Volumes. You can also find copies of the book at major online retailers like Amazon.
