by Yvonne Fletcher
When Ethan Luhman, a local father and pastor, started spinning stories to amuse his children during road trips or at bedtime, he never imagined what it would become. Now it is a beautifully illustrated book meant to be passed down from generation to generation, with silly stories full of sweet sentiment and valuable lessons.
Rusty Raccoon and the Sugar Bowl tells the story of an adventurous raccoon exploring the forest with his friends to find black raspberries, make some mistakes, learn some lessons, and come away with meaningful memories.
Ethan kindly took time out of his full schedule to share Rusty Raccoon and the Sugar Bowl with me. He and his wife, Sherry, worked together to share this thoughtful story with detailed illustrations with other families. Read on to learn more about the inspirations for this creation, the publishing journey, and what the creators hope for their readers in this abridged interview with Ethan Luhman.
Yvonne Fletcher: Did you have favorite books growing up?
Ethan Luhman: I read a lot as a kid. There was a lot of Dr. Seuss, Disney, and Berenstain Bears. I don’t remember a lot of specifics. I remember that Where the Red Fern Grows was the first book to make me cry.
YF: What do you feel is the power of stories for all of us, but especially for children?
EL: We all think in narrative. With technology we have become more and more removed from history and the story of life around and before us. We universally crave imaginative spaces. With technology, that world has been built by someone else so there are boundaries to that world. With inner narrative there are no limits. The internal story can draw us out of our own experience into what could be. It gives a chance to rethink the dynamics of our own relationships and what they could be.
YF: It seems that Rusty Raccoon and the Sugar Bowl started as bedtime stories for 3 little boys. What made you decide to put that down into writing?
EL: The first Rusty story I told was a bedtime story for my oldest child, who loves raccoons. He was scared to swim. I told a silly story about Rusty working through the fear of swimming himself with some forest friends in the Red River. These tales can help kids overcome those things that are troubling them. Rusty Raccoon and the Sugar Bowl is about owning exploration and finding a sense of adventure.
Kids today are in a different situation, for better or worse, but my brothers and I would wander freely and pick wild blackberries. Not to spoil the ending, but there is someone watching over them to keep them safe on the whole adventure. So kids in the book and reading along can have the joy of a shared adventure, even if it goes differently than expected.
On a long trip home one night, I was asked for a story and Rusty visited a donut shop. When I was done telling it, my wife said, “That was pretty good. You should write that down”. This was during Covid, so there was more time for creation then.
Sherry Luhman
It cannot be understated how helpful it was in the publishing that the illustrations were readily available from my wife. We had a baby on the way, so there was some rush in the first attempt. Those books arrived the same week as my youngest was born. We moved to the Northwoods and the area was so inspiring that we decided to try again to make the book exactly what we wanted. It took some time to find a printer that could provide everything that we wanted, the linen cover on hardcover and the goldleaf, etc. Having the support of the people around us with this project was so important because it can feel easy to give up some days.
YF: What has been the most surprising thing about making this idea of a book a reality?
EL: You don’t know what you don’t know. The attention to detail that you have to have cannot be underestimated. Being one-eighth of an inch off center can mess everything up. It’s that close. But it’s very special to find that someone is finding value in something you produced. I was surprised at how much that meant to me.
YF: It seems you’ve had an interesting publishing journey, beginning with a hybrid press and now self-publishing. Will you tell me about that please?
EL: The hybrid publisher that we went with first made things easy, but there were some things that we were really set on that they could not provide. It can be hard to sell something that you are not fully happy with and we wanted to really be behind what was put out. There were some hurdles in self-publishing like licenses and finding someone who was willing to print it just the way we wanted, but we were able to tighten the storyline and add new illustrations as well as make it exactly the way we’d envisioned it. Now it is the kind of book that would be passed down through generations. A Boy is a Boy by Ogden Nash is a whimsical, timeless book that has been passed down through my wife’s family. We were inspired by the classic look and story and that's what we wanted to put into the world.
YF: What do you hope children take away from reading this book?
“I hope that kids feel inspired to go on an adventure and feel ok about making some mistakes along the way as they learn and grow. I hope that parents are inspired to encourage their kids. ”
EL: I hope that kids feel inspired to go on an adventure and feel ok about making some mistakes along the way as they learn and grow. I hope that parents are inspired to encourage their kids. My wife is a very encouraging mother and she helped shape the voice of Rusty’s dad. She made him more encouraging and fun-loving. It’s a reminder of the kind of dad I had and that I want to be. We chose this Rusty story as the first publication because of its focus on father-son dynamics and the importance of honoring family.
YF:The book is so beautifully put together. Did the illustrations change the story in any way?
Sherry Luhman
EL: That’s a beautiful thing about being a husband and wife team. She had a full grasp of the story already. It’s not just a book to get through, it is full of educational things like the detailed pictures of the plants with all of the scientific names and descriptions.
YF: Did anything change from the original ideas as the book was developing?
EL: I realized that I could do better after the first publication. This gave us the opportunity to refine the characters and add illustrations. Sherry grew as an artist and that journey is brought to life in this book.
YF: What was it like collaborating as a married couple? Did it make things easier or did it add complications?
EL: Definitely both! For me it was easier. She may say that it was harder. We had each other to rely on. We had the same vision so that helped in working toward this goal. She really had this sense of beauty and cohesion for the end result and I didn’t have that in my head the way she did. I did the more technical things.
YF: Are you working on anything new now?
EL: Rusty Raccoon and the Donut Shop is in the works. It will probably also be self-published. It would be great to work with a traditional publisher but with everything that we’ve learned and the setup that we have, self-publishing is the more natural choice.
YF: What’s your favorite moment in Rusty Raccoon and the Sugar Bowl and why?
EL: The end! But I can’t tell you because that would spoil it.
Rusty Raccoon and the Sugar Bowl is available for purchase at The Luhman Collective | Custom Watercolor Pet Portraits & Nursery Art. The first 500 copies printed were signed by the creators and a few signed editions are still available.