Being yourself is an important rule of life. That's the message of the new children's book written and illustrated by two Estevan locals.
The Adventures of Roland the U.S. Postal Service Truck, Herb Padwick's first complete and published novel and illustrated by local cartoonist, Glenn Dumontel, follows the life of Roland, a postal truck, who upon witnessing the speed of the busy interstate, decides he wants to go fast. A retired manager of the local GM dealership, not a retired dealer he points out, referring to the author's bio on the back of the book, Padwick thought it was a "cute" idea for his grandchildren, four and six, to enjoy. As for publishing, he says, "Either it will sell or it won't," but his target audience is first and foremost his grandchildren.
Padwick and Dumontel agree the book is generically written so it will be a good experience for young readers, and parents won't mind reading it to their children either.
The initial idea came to Padwick during a visit with family in Colorado, when he saw a little postal truck mixing it up with the big rigs speeding down the interstate. "I thought, 'He's free.'"
In the book, when Padwick's postal service truck gets out on the open freeway, he finds he's overwhelmed and gets scared.
"He realizes, 'I don't want to be anything else,'" said Padwick. Roland is a postal service truck who understands it's OK to be just that.
This is Padwick's first published work, after attempting to write a novel about his experiences as a car dealer but couldn't make sense of it.
Dumontel is reluctant to take any credit for the story, saying it's Padwick's realization; while Padwick is hesitant to bear all the credit, "Glenn brought Roland to life."
Dumontel, a customs officer, remembers first reading Padwick's manuscript more than a year ago.
"I thought he was kidding," he said. "Herb really had an interesting story. My role then was to understand what [Roland's] personality and his character was. I took the pages he had laid out, and he had the story line and I developed the visual side of the story."
Dumontel says his first design for the U.S. postal truck was a very close representation of the one in the finished product, with changes only to the headlights.
"Everything was smooth and flowing. We didn't make it a work project, we made it a fun project."
He added, "This is Herb's book. I was fortunate and blessed to be part of it."
Padwick countered, "Without Glenn, it wasn't going to happen, unless you want to see a couple of stick drawings."
In a community this size, noted Dumontel, there is a lot of feedback. Padwick says in the spring there may be readings at the local library and schools are free to request readings.
The book is available in soft cover at Pharmasave for $16 as well as through the Xlibris bookstore on their website, www.xlibris.com. The hardcover edition can be ordered for $25.99.
