CCS Graduate Releases Children’s Adventure Book

By GAYANE TOROSYAN
HARRISVILLE, NH

Illustrator and cartoonist Mark Armstrong, who grew up in Cooperstown and now lives in Harrisville, New Hampshire, has created a new children’s book that combines humor, adventure, and gentle lessons about geography and curiosity. Titled “Fred the Coconut,” the book is now available on Amazon, but the path to publishing it took the author at least three years.

In the story, Fred tumbles from his tree and finds himself swept into a series of increasingly imaginative adventures. Along the way he rides with whales and seahorses, travels by hot-air balloon, soars through space, visits Antarctica, and encounters friends around the world before ultimately trying to find his way home.

“There are gags sprinkled throughout the book that will register for adults, and probably go over kids’ heads,” Armstrong said. “The yellow submarine and octopus’ garden should ring a bell for Boomer grandparents. There’s even a very funny picture of Beatle Fish.”

Armstrong graduated from Cooperstown Central School in 1967 and later spent more than 35 years working as a freelance illustrator, creating artwork and cartoons for magazines and corporate clients. Before that, however, he spent time in insurance and computer programming. His life changed in 1980 when the company where he worked was acquired.

“Employees moved away,” Armstrong recalled.

Faced with a choice about his future, he decided it was a “do it or die” moment. He chose illustration.

“I always wanted to try being an illustrator,” he said.

At the time, magazines still held significant cultural influence, and Armstrong first entered the field through gag cartoons, the single-panel drawings, sometimes captioned, that were familiar to many generations of magazine readers. The process required persistence: Armstrong recalls drawing a dozen ideas at a time and mailing them to publications in self-addressed envelopes, hoping one might catch an editor’s attention.

“It was a hit-or-miss type thing,” Armstrong said.

Among the magazines purchasing his work were “TV Guide,” “Better Homes and Gardens,” “The Rotarian,” and “Golf Digest,” reflecting both his talent for humor and his lifelong enthusiasm for golf. Like many cartoonists, Armstrong dreamed of appearing in “The New Yorker,” perhaps the most prestigious market for witty cartoons. That dream remained elusive, but he found success elsewhere.

One memorable moment came when “TV Guide” purchased one of Armstrong’s cartoons. Shortly afterward, he received a call from television executive Roone Arledge, who wanted the original artwork for his office. Arledge got his wish, although Armstrong now jokes that he should have charged him for it.

Humor remained Armstrong’s specialty throughout his career. Yet several years ago, he began contemplating a different challenge: writing and illustrating a children’s picture book.

“The thought about a children’s book had been on my mind as a general idea,” he said.

The plan became more specific as one day, while sketching possible concepts on scrap paper, Armstrong found himself doodling various characters, including animals and children. The characters were too many, and most of them never returned to his sketchbook.

“You can’t trust your ideas when you are just scrolling and doodling,” he said.

The next day, when he looked over the sketches with fresh eyes, one drawing caught his attention: a coconut.

“Coconuts are popular like bananas,” he joked. “Who doesn’t like a banana?”

The character felt approachable and funny, something children might immediately embrace. That simple sketch eventually became Fred. Creating the book proved to be a longer process than Armstrong anticipated.

“A children’s book has an awful long gestation period,” he said.

While developing Fred’s adventures, Armstrong continued accepting illustration assignments from major clients including Coca-Cola and Chick-fil-A. Work on the book often happened during spare moments between professional projects.

What began as a relatively simple concept gradually expanded.

“The next thing I knew, the book spiraled off,” Armstrong said.

Three to four years later, “Fred the Coconut” was finally complete.

Although the story is driven by humor, Armstrong also hopes young readers absorb a broader message. Growing up in Cooperstown during the 1960s, he remembers a different approach to geography education than many students experience today.

“When I was a ninth-grader,” he said, “we all took the same social studies course: geography.”

Rather than focusing exclusively on historical events, students spent an entire course learning how other countries functioned geographically and culturally.

“At least you moved on to the next grade with a pretty good idea of how the world is laid out,” he said.

That memory helped shape Fred’s travels. The book includes whimsical maps and visits to places such as the British Isles, Europe, South America, Egypt, and Antarctica.

“I’m not going to pretend that this is the equivalent of a geography course,” Armstrong said. “I’m hoping he sparks a little curiosity in kids and makes them want to explore some of these things.”

When it came time to publish the book, Armstrong faced another learning curve. To create a professional identity for the project, he established his own company, Funky Fish Publishing, along with an imprint called Snooze Buddy Books.

Like many first-time independent authors, Armstrong discovered that publishing through Amazon involves far more than simply uploading a manuscript. He spent countless hours researching printing options, formatting requirements, cover design, and the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) registration—a system helping libraries and bookstores catalog and track books—before “Fred the Coconut” was ready for readers. Now that the book is in print, Armstrong hopes its colorful illustrations and lighthearted adventures will do more than entertain.

“My belief is that the window between birth and 5 years old is when you can give your children a love for reading,” Armstrong said.

The book is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Fred-Coconut-Mark-Armstrong/dp/B0H5RL1RF5/ with more detail on Fred the Coconut’s website at https://www.fred-the-coconut.com/home.