Emeritus Professor Robert Bohlken writes children's book

Maryville Daily Forum - Sunday December 15, 2002
Children's book teaches valuable lessons
By Christy Chesnut
Forum Staff Writer

The collaboration of a local author, artist and publisher has resulted in a unique new children's book that just might teach parents a thing or two as well.

Dr. Robert Bohlken, an emeritus professor of communication at Northwest Missouri State University, is the creative mind behind the book "Listening to the Mukies and Their Character Building Adventures." Bohlken uses imaginary creatures called "Mukies to teach problem-solving techniques and character building skills to children of all ages.

To celebrate the arrival of the book, Publisher Lee Jackson of Images Unlimited Publishing has planned a "Hot-Off-the-Press" party from 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday Dec. 20 at the Maryville Public Library. Bohlken will be on hand to sign the books, as well as provide insight into the creation of the Mukie's stories.

Drawing from his experiences as an educator and family man, Bohlken began writing about the Mukies in 1993.

"Since that time, I have been writing about the Mukies, primarily from a character building perspective, and I'm into listening - that's probably my biggest research area," Bohlken said. "I find that listening is very difficult because you don't take time to listen between parent and child."

One of the primary goals of his book is to promote discussion between parents and their children. Bohlken uses the troll-like Mukies, which were brought to life by his former student, Michele Sherlock Veasey, to teach various character building values, such as mutual respect, cooperation and understanding.

"The parent should take the responsibility of developing moral character," Bohlken said. "So now with the books, they have an opportunity to discuss those issues with their children. The idea is that you read together, you listen to each other and you interact with problem solving."

In addition to featuring fun, likeable characters, Bohlken incorporated special educational theme into each chapter. Upon Jackson's advice, he also interspersed activities and questions in the book to enhance discussion.

The publisher and author began working on the children's book last year after they spoke at the BPW Hobby Show about some of Bohlken's previously self-published works.

"We talked about the 'Optimistic Mukie' and several others," Jackson said. "I found these characters rather endearing, and I thought they had lots of possibilities, so he continued to writes some more and just kept cranking them out. It was a fun project to work through."

While the tow Maryville residents collaborated on the project, they faced several challenges, including the name of the book and the spelling of "Mukie" to ensure it would be pronounced with a long "u". There were also questions about the number of illustrations to include in the book. Bohlken wanted to rely less on images and more on the messages the characters teach.

"So far, every time I've read the stories at schools, the children enjoy the characters - the only question was, 'why aren't they all in color?'" Bohlken said. "My comment back to the child was, 'the emphasis is on the message, and you create the images in your own mind.' I related how, in my day, with radio, I had to create the images. Now television has it so explicit that there's nothing left for the imagination."

While imaginary critters in the book may look simple, they encounter some of the more difficult problems facing modern society, such as racial prejudice. Bohlken also incorporated local tales, such as the true story of the "Honey War" on the Iowa-Missouri border, into the text to teach valuable lessons.

Noting that he thoroughly enjoyed creating the book, Bohlken said his next venture would probably be a book about his 42 years of classroom teaching.

As for the "Mukies," both author and publisher are looking forward to the upcoming book signing party. Jackson plans to promote the book in a special way by creating "Mukie Dolls" that represent the characters pictured on the cover.

"Hopefully we can have a whole family or even a whole society eventually," she said.

Anyone who is interested in purchasing a copy of "Listening to the Mukies and Their Character Building Adventures" may contact Jackson at 660.582.4279 or purchase the book through her Web site at www.snaptail.com. The soft cover version of the 102-page book sells for $14.95.