News

Excerpt from January 2008 Monthly Memo pdf.

Greenlee School advisory council member publishes second book

By Erin O'Gara

Already an award winning author, Iowa State alumnus and Greenlee School council member Don Arends recently published his second children's book, Farmhouse Adventures of Norm the Ninja River Mouse, a tale inspired by a real-life event that occurred on a trip that Arends took down the Moselle River in Germany.

Motivated to write by a high school teacher who told him that a paper he wrote was one of the worst-spelled and most creative that he had seen in years, Arends pursued a degree in agricultural journalism and graduated from ISU in 1952. Only six years later, he started his own marketing communications group. Now owner of Arends Advertising and Mission Manuscripts publishing company, he resides in Oak Brook, Ill. and Palm Springs, Calif.

Arends claims that his interest in writing children's books and the use of animal characters came from his own experiences growing up on an Iowa farm. As a child he says he spent a lot of time telling stories with his grandmother and continued the tradition throughout his life. Several years ago, his wife suggested that he begin writing some of the stories down, but nothing really developed until the inspiration for Norm came while on a trip abroad.

One night during a visit to Germany, a small mouse dropped onto the deck of the river barge that Arends and his wife were traveling on. When someone stomped on the mouse and threw it overboard, Arends says he couldn't stop thinking about it. The next morning he and a retired preacher named Norm had a discussion about whether there was a mouse heaven and Norm the Ninja River Mouse was born.

Similarly, his 2006 book Grandpa Grouper: The Fish with Glasses was influenced by events that took place on a trip to the Galapagos Islands when a man lost his glasses while leaning overboard to look into the water.

Arends says that the most satisfying part about writing children's books is the happy endings and learning experiences that children can gain from them. "I think that a child ought to be able to go to bed with nice thoughts."

Arends sent a copy of the book to Director Michael Bugeja's 5-year-old son, Mikayle. "It came with a CD, so he listens to the story a lot before bedtime. It's charming," Bugeja said.

With 28 grandchildren Arends gets plenty of feedback on his books. "I was very nervous that kids wouldn't like the books", he said. "I've always been able to tell a pretty good story, but the feedback is great."

Grandpa Grouper won a 2006 Pinnacle Achievement Award for Best Children's Book and Norm has already begun receiving positive reviews. Both books were published through Arends' company Mission Manuscripts.

Arends currently has five more children's books in the works, including two more in the Norm series. In addition to finishing those books, he is also working on compiling stories of World War II veterans for the Palm Springs Air Museum where he has been involved for several years.