I’m always on the lookout for gateway items to get the next generation into the stuff that I’m into. Wondering if anything might make a nephew or neice interested in something comic or fantasy or science fiction related. So a children’s book is definitely right in that wheelhouse.
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Make 100: SteamBear Books
Creator/Writer/Colorist – Andres Salazar
Chief Financial Officer – Nicole Salazar
Chairman of the Board – Santiago Salazar
Kickstarter campaign ends on Monday, January 29, 2018 at 11:51 PM EST.
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The Pitch:
SteamBear is an interactive children’s picture book and comic. It’s book two of THE ADVENTURE BEAR SQUAD. A Sci-Fi adventure story designed for the geek-parent and their children. It is built to stimulate creativity and learning. It is a team of bears across genres like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets the Care Bears.
The Story:
The exciting second installment of the Adventure Bear Squad book series is upon us! Faced with the disappearance of dreams by every man, woman and child the world is thrown in turmoil and it’s up to SteamBear and his compatriots to save the world from curmudgeonry. They travel through time and space in SteamBear’s Travel-train and find out why the dreams have gone missing and how to bring them back!
John’s Thoughts:
Bears fighting pirates.
Bears in hot air balloons.
Bears wearing top hats and hopefully monocles.
This seems like one of those fun books where you can read with the kid in your life and discover new little pieces while also learning about different points and places in history (judging from the images on the Kickstarter page). I can definitely imagine laughing at the site of a bear flying past Big Ben over in London.
The Rewards:
Given that this is a limited edition of the book, as part of the Make 100 campaigns Kickstarter is encouraging for the month of January, the overall product is limited to… 100 copies. So each category has a limited number next to it for the hard copies (this has digital versions as well). At $25 you get the Hardcover along with an original drawing inside. The intriguing one is the $99 level where you not only get the book and the original drawing, but you also will get an original 11×15 watercolor painting. I could see that as being something to hang up in the kid’s room for a long time.
The Verdict:
Let’s see – Steampunk, kid’s book, bears, and various spots in time… educational and something you and the kids will enjoy as part of your reading rituals… yeah, this seems like a nice additon to your library!
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To learn more about SteamBear, check out DecadeBrothers here.
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John McGuire is the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. Want to read the first issue for free? Click here! Already read it and eager for more?
Click here to join John’s mailing list.
His prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Theft & Therapy, There’s Something About Mac, Hollow Empire, Beyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.
He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com