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Writer, illustrator team up to teach kids life’s lessons
By jeanne starmack
farrell, pa.
Roland Barksdale-Hall and Bill Murray know a thing or two about teamwork.
It’s a lesson the writer and artist have drawn on since their first collaboration in 1995, which was a book about African- American history of Mercer County — written by Barksdale-Hall and laid out, designed and printed by BM Graphics, a business owned by Murray in Sharon on State Street.
It’s a lesson they’re drawing on again for a new series of children’s books, written by Barksdale-Hall and illustrated by Murray, that will imprint a few lessons of their own on the 4- to 8-year-old age bracket.
The lessons are about teamwork and being a friend.
The first one, “Under African Skies,” comes out July 30 from a small publisher in Cherry Hill, N.J., Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers.
In the book, which includes two stories, a mouse befriends a lion that learns it’s better to have the small creature as a friend than it is to bully it. And Cousin Monkey learns to outsmart a buzzard that has a habit of smooth-talking other creatures into befriending it so it can eat them.
“I learned to be nice to each other,” said Saraea Cooper, 9, after Barksdale-Hall read to third-, fourth- and fifth-graders at Monsignor Geno Monti School in Farrell earlier this week.
The book, with its anti-bullying message, is a step down just one more path the pair is exploring.
They also worked together years ago on a magazine, The Health Reporter, which Barksdale-Hall edited and published for the Frontiers International Foundation. Murray drew cartoons for the magazine.
They also pursued their separate endeavors. Barksdale-Hall was a librarian and writer, writing for encyclopedias and traveling as a storyteller.
“I’m a member of the National Organization of Black Storytellers,” he explained, and that work took him “across the country.”
Murray worked as a nationally syndicated cartoonist, a pursuit of his for the last 35 years.
About a year ago, Murray said, he was inspired to illustrate children’s books by his 5-year-old daughter, Cheyanne.
He approached Barksdale-Hall, who said that though he’s been a storyteller for 30 years, the books are going to be his first attempt at creative writing.
They envision 10 books in the series and have committed to three with the publisher. The second book, “Lion Pride,” already is written and will be released in January 2011.
“It focuses on play, how to learn to share and how to be part of a team,” said Barksdale-Hall.
A third book, “Fly Eagle,” will be released in June 2011.
It is about “gifts and talents and becoming who you are,” he said.
The writer and illustrator will appear at the Shenango Valley Library in Sharon at 11 a.m. July 12.
The book “Under African Skies” will be available at Barnes & Noble and at the company’s website, barnesandnoble.com.
More information is also available at billmurrays.com.