Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 07/99) - Yellowknife publishing guru, Diane Brookes, celebrated the release of four books recently at the Panda Two Mall.

The Story of Spot, Kailee and the Frog Prince, All Alone, and Su Lin and the Dragon bring the total books published by the local house this year to seven. By Aug. 31, 15 books will have been released by Raven Rock.

Brookes herself wrote the latest collection.

"They are an assortment of fun fairy tales, and in a way they all have character-building aspects," Brookes said of the four children's books.

She said she uses two processes to weave the magical tales she creates. One of them is to utilize real-life experiences.

The story of Spot, is a true story about her cat and the experiences it has interacting with students at J.H. Sissons school.

"The second process I learned over the last two years. I taught myself to access what I call my imagination box, which is a term I got from a 10-year-old. I tell children the imagination box in their head is where good dreams come from," Brookes said.

"What happens is a word or phrase sticks in my mind, and grows from there. Eventually, it has to come out of the box. When it gets to that stage, I know I have to get the story out."

The first printing of the latest four books was 3,000 copies each.

For any children's book to be successful, it must be creatively illustrated. All Raven Rock books are written and, if need be, illustrated by Northern artists.

Northern artists Mary-Lynn Carraretto, Ann Timmons, Stephen Lewis and Shelley Brookes illustrated the latest batch of children's books.

"The illustrations in these books are an excellent indication of the level of talent here in Yellowknife," Brookes said.

"What I'm proud of is that I, as publisher, am willing to access this young talent and encourage them to do the work. They're gifted artists and they deserve a chance to show what they can do."

As the only active children's book publisher in the North, Brookes offers a place for Northern talent to showcase their work. She markets the published products throughout Canada and the U.S.

"Barring bankruptcy, I would really like to keep going and make this a viable Northern business," she said.