By C1 Staff
SALISBURY, N.C. — A corrections officer with Rowan County is publishing a children’s book and he’s looking for help to make it happen.
“I’ve published a novel already and it’s so much different than doing a children’s book,” said Sgt. Kenn Phillips, of his new book Uglybeard. “I’m not the greatest artist in the world, so I enlisted the help of my wife’s cousin to do illustrations.
“With the novel, I did everything myself. I did have a few other people proofread, but that was it. Having to rely on someone else is a lesson in patience.”
According to Phillips’ Kickstarter page, Uglybeard is the story about the son of Blackbeard, who doesn’t want to be a pirate.
“In my children’s book, Uglybeard, the son of Blackbeard, gets picked on and made fun of because he goes to school at the Rusty Cutlass School for Young Pirates and he doesn’t want to be a pirate,” describes Phillips on his Kickstarter page.
Phillips was inspired to write the book after hearing about the story of an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide because he was the victim of bullying.
“To see a father crying because he’d lost the son he’d considered his best friend… I had to do something,” Phillips wrote.
Part of the profit from Uglybeard will go to PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, as well as the charity set up by the boy’s family.
Phillips works with the N.C. Department of Public Safety as a Correctional Sergeant at Piedmont Correctional. He doesn’t make enough to get Uglybeard published in print, but hopes that those who hear his story will be inspired to help out. He is shooting for an August 4th publication date.
The book is being publisehd through Phillips’ own publishing house, Raven’s Post Publishing, which was created in 2010.
Phillips has three boys of his own, and his 8-year-old was the original source of inspiration for the main character of Uglybeard. He says all three of them are excited for the book’s publication.
“Of course, it being a pirate-themed story has something to do with it, but the possibility of them seeing a book in stores with their dad’s name on it thrills them to no end.”
For more information on how you can help make Phillips’ dream a reality, check out his Kickstarter page or his Facebook page.