Rueben's Ramblings

TV viewers know actress Evangeline Lilly from her role as Kate Austen on the long-running, international hit series Lost and movie goers know her as Tauriel from The Hobbit movie franchise; but far too few know her as an author. That will change soon enough because Evangeline is the author of the new hardcover children’s book “The Squickerwonkers” that will be released this Tuesday.

This past July at San Diego Comic Con, Evangeline led a panel to introduce her storybook and I was surprised to learn that this is a passion project of hers. In fact, it has been her passion since she was 14 years old when she first came up with the idea.

During the panel she explained that she first self-published the book last year, selling 1000 copies before the Titan Publishing Group came to her about releasing the book and a much greater scale. Being a self-proclaimed perfectionist, Evangeline made changes to the 2013 version and worked with Johnny Fraser-Allen – who works at the Weta Workshop (the special effects and props company behind The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings franchise) and is the illustrator of “The Squickerwonkers”.

As the duo worked together, much of the time with Evangeline here in the U.S. and Johnny in New Zealand, her vision began to come to life even more; but then a troubling fact was pointed out to her. Her characters – a traveling band of marionettes puppets that each suffer from their own vice – resembled the characters in the 2009 animated film Coraline because of their button eyes. She and Johnny were forced to go back to the drawing board, thankfully coming up with a solution: replace the buttons with coins.

Once they had that new direction, Evangeline and Johnny got back to work creating the world of “The Squickerwonkers”, which was inspired by her love of all things Dr. Seuss and based on a poem she wrote for school.

“The Squickerwonkers” will not only be released as a hardcover book but also in digital format and Evangeline is also aiming for a film version too. As a special treat during the panel, Evangeline shared sneak peeks inside the book as well a short reel that is expected to feature Doctor Who alum Sylvester McCoy doing the voiceover.

While many people think that children’s books are only for children, Evangeline’s passion, and her belief that her cautionary tale that teaches kids and gives them a moral compass, was contagious.

You can learn more about Evangeline’s passion project here and head over to Amazon to purchase the book, which is actually the first of a planned set of 18 books according to Evangeline.