Trumpeter Michael Drake is a familiar name to longtime music fans around town, a Latin-smooth-Caribbean-jazz player with eight CDs and 30-plus years on his résumé. But recently the Milwaukee musician took an unanticipated turn: He became a children's book author.
The biggest inspirations were his grandchildren, Victoria, 4, and Ferris, 1. Drake began writing humorous verses to entertain them, remembering that his grandmother did the same thing when he was a kid. "And then my wife, Lori, talked about writing a cookbook for kids. A half-dozen things were hinting at me to do this," he says.
This became an ambitious scheme called "The Growing Books," each installment a set of poems with verses brightly illustrated by Madison commercial artist Kay Lum. Circulating word of his project online, he received submissions from some 50 illustrators nationwide. Lum impressed him most: "When I first viewed samples of Kay's art on her Web site, I said to myself, 'Yes!' I loved her style, and frankly I was tired of looking at submissions that were good but just didn't get me where it counts."
Thus far, Drake has published two volumes of "The Growing Books" in several formats, including DVD (with his own voice-over), coloring books, CD (with downloadable text) and-out shortly-traditional perfect-bound books. He is working on translating his whimsical poems, with titles such as "Mootsy the Rootsy" and "I'm a Dreamer," into Spanish.
"We really click creatively," Lum adds. "We inspire each other's ideas and bounce them back and forth until we come up with what we feel is the perfect solution, laughing most of the time!"
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And laughter is Drake's calling card-great gusts of laughter. As a musician he always looks as if he's having a terrific time, and one easily imagines him shifting gears only slightly to entertain children with his spoken words.
Michael Drake will present material from "The Growing Books" from 12:30 to 1 p.m., May 9, at Betty Brinn Children's Museum.
Local artist and author Barbara Manger's new book, Mary Nohl: Inside & Outside, looks into the life of one of Milwaukee's most fascinating 20th-century artists, the woman behind Fox Point's "Witch House." Book signings take place Saturday, May 9, from 1 to 2 p.m. at Barnes & Noble at Bayshore; and June 4 from 7 to 8 p.m. at Boswell Book Co.
