Julia sat on a rock facing the roadrunner cage for hours. We were at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska on a mission…a mission to see a roadrunner up close. I wanted to take pictures for later reference, but, more importantly, Julia wanted to get some drawings down on paper to start the process of developing this children’s book character we’ve created, a roadrunner named Rikke.
Thinking about it, I guess the character development started long before the zoo, on one of the many long stretches of interstate we were chewing up on our road trip. We were watching the miles go by and decided to get into the head of Rikke and figure out who this roadrunner really was.
We had already covered about half of the 6000 km we drove on this journey from Kansas City to Los Angeles, to Phoenix then the winding, long way back to Kansas City via Omaha. The goal of the trip was to let Julia see, first hand, the world in which Rikke would live. Growing up in Germany, I knew it would have a huge impact on her to see the vastness of the American Southwest.
And vast it is. We were able to get off of the highway and get lost. No cars, no sounds, no cell service. Just us and this rugged, dry, massive world that Rikke calls home.
We even experienced it at night, looking at the sky with no clouds and no light pollution. Just a big sky full of stars like we could touch them.
No Rikke without a Story
Here birdy birdy!
The Story
Pitch
Rikke isn’t just another fast roadrunner…Rikke is the FASTEST young roadrunner in the entire American Southwest. Rikke is faster than trains and planes and anything else that moves. And Rikke knows it. Known to brag to anyone who will listen, Rikke shouted out the challenge: “I WILL RACE ANYONE OR ANYTHING AND WIN!”
Then one night something magical happened. Rikke was racing a Shooting Star, about to win in front of the whole valley of cheering creatures, when the little roadrunner stopped. Gazing up at the streak shooting across the night sky in wonder, Rikke sees for the first time.