Stinky tale marks young author’s first book

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Doing something new is easier under the guidance of an experienced mentor.

For Jacob Gibson of Charles City, his mentor is also his collaborator.

Gibson, 31, is the co-author with Dixie Phillips of a new children’s book, “Dragon Breath.”

The book is a silly fairy tale about an insensitive dragon with bad breath who stinks up a kingdom until he can be convinced of the importance of brushing his teeth.

Gibson is a graduate of the Lighthouse Academy, the Christian school run by Phillips and her husband, the Rev. Paul Phillips, through their Christian Lighthouse Church in Floyd.

Dixie Phillips is an author of children’s books and other books, as well as an award-winning Christian songwriter.

“My husband and I have 13 grandchildren and so we really love children’s books that teach lessons — practical lessons, moral lessons, Christian lessons, things like that,” Phillips said.

She said she was looking for a way to get children to brush their teeth.

“I saw tremendous potential in his writing,” Phillips said of Gibson. “I’ve known him since he was a little boy and I’ve always seen that he’s very creative and he has quick wit. I just wanted to kind of bring out that diamond in the rough.”

Gibson said he and Phillips worked on the book together to get the story right.

“It was a lot of brainstorming and it’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “I had to kind of tap in to my inner child and work on finding good lessons — teaching and making it fun and humorous, but staying on focus with the lesson.”

Phillips said, “We also thought about little boys that are reluctant readers sometimes, and so we tried to think of a fun way to present some not-so-fun stuff. We knew they like dragons.”

“It’s basically like your classic fairy tale story of a dragon attacking a kingdom,” Gibson said, “but it’s got this goofy twist where instead of breathing fire it has really bad breath and made the whole kingdom smell bad, and so the king is trying to find people to get the dragon to brush its teeth to save the kingdom.

“It ends up with a little boy being the wise one,” Gibson said. “He goes and finds the dragon’s grandpa, and the grandpa tells him what happened when he didn’t brush his teeth and it kind of scares the dragon straight. … It’s a humorous way to get kids to want to brush their teeth.”

The book is published by Guardian Angel Publishing, Phillips said. It’s available through most online bookstores and at guardianangelpublishing.com.

Gibson said they have signed a contract for three more books. Two will be sequels to “Dragon Breath,” and the other may be a more traditional fairy tale.

Phillips noted that the book is illustrated by KC Snyder.

“Snyder is from Oregon and has done many, many books — she’s an award-winning illustrator,” Phillips said. “That’s who we were hoping for, but you don’t get to choose. The publisher has a pool of illustrators, and it just so happened that K.C. had said, ‘If you get a dragon manuscript I want to illustrate it,’ and ours came in about that time. We were so excited.”

“This is my first book to co-author and publish,” Gibson said, “so I was pretty surprised we got someone that talented right off the bat. Hopefully she will work with us on future books.”

Gibson said they began working on “Dragon Breath” about two years ago.

“It takes a while,” Phillips said. “First you do the submission process and then you wait and wait and wait and see if it was accepted. And once it’s accepted it usually takes a little bit for you to get the contract, then the contract comes and you wait and wait to find out who the illustrator is. Once the illustrator gets started it usually doesn’t take too long for it to go to press.”

Phillips said there is a misconception that writing a children’s book is easier than other books, just because it’s shorter.

“In some ways it can be quite challenging because you are so limited with words and you have to keep that point of view, always coming from the character. There’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Gibson said, “It’s definitely a great learning process for writing longer books. It helps you see the big picture better, of thinking ahead and just making it all work together, making sure the message is getting through and you’re staying on track with everything.

“You have to make sure every word counts,” he said. “You want it to be funny, but also deliver a message. You don’t want words that would be hard for kids to understand or read.”

Gibson, who currently works at Hy-Vee in Charles City, said he would like a career in writing.

“I’ve got these ideas, but they’re so big and I can’t do them alone, that I’m not sure if I’m going to pursue them yet and how seriously,” he said. “It’s all kind of in God’s hands right now. I’ve got to find some medium-sized goals before going to bigger ones.

“I’m perfectly fine right now working on books and whatever else Dixie thinks of,” he said.