Check out Monkey & the Engineer by David Opie (my bro)

My brother Dave's new book Monkey and the Engineer (illustrated by him with text from the song by Jessie Fuller) is now out in hardback. He is selling them (signed) from his website at http://spacemandave.com/.

I'm at my parents' home in Staunton, Virginia at the moment (until tomorrow--Dave left just a few minutes ago), and yesterday on the front page of the newspaper here they ran an article about Dave and his book after he did the interview just the day before. The photo above is from that article, taken by Mike Tripp of The News Leader. Dave's first grade teacher called our house first thing yesterday morning after she saw the article. Dave answered the phone by chance, and she said, "You probably don't remember me, but I remember you very well." He remembered her once she said her name.

Here's the full newspaper article (written by Brad Zinn) about the book:

STAUNTON — A former Deadhead himself, two years ago Dave Opie jumped at the chance to illustrate "Monkey and the Engineer," a children's book based on a Jesse Fuller folk song popularized by the Grateful Dead.

"It's kind of amazing that no one else came up with the idea before that," Opie said.

The story revolves around a pet monkey "who leaves his owner with a 'worried mind' when he makes off with a big locomotive," according to Opie's Web site. The book is slated to hit bookstores this spring.

Opie, 39, is a former Staunton resident who earned his bachelor's degree in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and later obtained his master's from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

His work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Spider Magazine and the Weekly Reader. Opie also has done educational art for McGraw-Hill and National Geographic School Publishing, and teaches two days a week at the Illinois Institute of Art — Chicago.

"It's a tough way to make a living, but it's a lot of fun," he said of his busy schedule. If all goes according to plan, "Monkey and the Engineer" could be turned into a series. "I've always wanted to do children's picture books," Opie said. "I'd much rather be drawing monkeys and trains. That's where the fun is."

Opie said he worked on the book's illustrations during a one-year span, using water colors and digital animation to achieve the effect he was seeking. Though Opie said he could finish a one-page illustration in about eight to 10 hours, he typically spent about two days on the artwork.

"This has a longer shelf life, and I would definitely spend more time" on it, he said. Once the art was finished, JD Publishing, a division of Redpsych Productions, had the book printed in Hong Kong, a four-month process that recently was completed. Holding the book Wednesday afternoon, Opie said, "Having it in hand is a great feeling. To finally see it put together is satisfying."

Opie said he even managed to get a likeness of his dog, Poppin, inserted into the book. "I needed to work her in there," he said with a smile.

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