Sky’s the limit for new children’s book with roots in Geneva

Geneva native Kurt Wehrmeister, author of his first book for children, will return to his hometown Friday to share the story of “Cumie, the Brave Little Cloud” at an event in downtown Geneva.

The event will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon at The Little Traveler, 404 S. Third St., and feature special readings and art workshops. Two other events for the book will be held Oct. 14 and 15 at the store. For ticket availability, go to www.littletraveler.com.

Wehrmeister, 66, who now lives in Santa Rosa, California, collaborated on the book with Geneva native and illustrator Kathryn Nagel, 29, a graduate of the Northern Illinois University School of Art and Design. This is her first children’s book as well.

“It was Kathryn Nagel and her talent that inspired me to conceive and write Cumie’s story,” Wehrmeister said in an email response to questions about the book. “I had known Kathryn since she was a small girl. But as she went through high school, and especially then to college at NIU in the School of Art and Design, I saw her postings of her art. She had developed this wonderful style inspired and informed by Disney and other animators, but also a bit by Asian anime.”

He said “she has a tremendous gift for anthropomorphizing animals and insects and even plants, making them into adorable creatures,” Wehrmeister said.”I knew that her work would be perfect for children’s literature.”

The book came together during the pandemic, he said.

“It was in the early weeks of 2021, when we were all still staying home trying to avoid COVID for the most part, that I sat down and banged out the first draft of ‘Cumie.’ It took me about four or five hours,” he said. “Of course I tweaked and edited for several weeks afterward, but maybe 90% of what’s in the book is what I put down that afternoon.”

He then emailed it to Nagel and asked if “she wanted to take a crack” at illustrating the story.

“By the time I went back to Geneva in late May of that year she had produced 27 drawings to illustrate the story. As I’ve said, she gave me exactly what I’d had in my mind’s eye - and better,” he said.

“She is a tremendous talent who I’m convinced will have a great career in illustration and indeed in animation as well,” Wehrmeister said.

It took nearly two years to do the research necessary to find a publisher, he said. He said it was published with Bloomington, Indiana-based AuthorHouse in March 2023. “Cumie” is available online at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as through the publisher’s own website.

The book is available at The Little Traveler as well, he said.

Wehrmeister said the premise of the book is “my attempt to gently communicate - and obviously Kathryn’s images are necessary to do this - in a manner that a child can wrap his or her head around, that death happens, most often in their world to a pet, or a grandparent, and that while we’re sad, that it’s OK ... because what we’ve done or created or contributed through our lives has made things a little better, and it is that which we leave behind that’s lasting,”

Wehrmeister reached out for the weather expertise of Geneva native and National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Smith, a friend since grade school, for the book. Smith, who lives in Omaha, Nebraska, is a graduate of Geneva High School and co-produced with WGN meteorologist Tom Skilling the former tornado seminars at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for years.

”As to Brian Smith, I’m just glad I knew him and that he was nice enough to help,” he said. “I knew he’d spent his career with the National Weather Service. I had written this story with only a basic layman’s knowledge of Earth’s water cycle and so I needed to know that we were close to accurate on our facts,” Wehrmeister said.

“It was of course Brian who pointed out that cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds generally exist in nature for only hours at most,” he said.

Wehrmeister is well-known in Geneva as a retired reporter and associate editor of the former Geneva Republican newspaper as well as a communications official at Moose International and Mooseheart Child City & School from 1991 to 2013, including work as managing editor of Moose Magazine, a national publication of the Moose fraternal organization based at Mooseheart.

Wehrmeister was also the principal author of “Mooseheart: A Century of Giving,” in 2012.

He’s also known for his voice. He had roughly a 30-year run beginning in 1979 as the public address announcer of Geneva High School football and basketball games.

Mike Simon, owner of The Little Traveler, has been a lifelong friend of Wehrmeister, the author said. They have known one another since the early 1960s, he said.

“In the summers of 1973 and ‘74, we worked together at The Little Traveler packing gifts for shipping, hauling furniture, grounds maintenance...,” he said.

He said when he told Simon about the new book he “graciously agreed to stock it at The Little Traveler, and much more, to host reading and art workshop events on July 28 and two more on Oct. 14 and 15,” Wehrmeister said.

Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.