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BookExpo America – Authors Studio Interview
Interview about Life of Shouty: Good Habits at the 2010 BookExpo America in NYC.
Buckhead woman leaves corporate world to pen children’s books (Northside Neighbor)
by Laura Braddick
Corporate businesswoman turned children’s author and Buckhead resident Seon Ricks debuts her first book ‘Life of Shouty: Good Habits’ Tuesday.
After more than a decade of devotion to the corporate world, Buckhead resident Seon Ricks left that realm to pursue her dream of writing children’s books.
“You only live once and I’m the only person who could bring Shouty into the world,” said the Chicago native of her main character, which she created 19 years ago as a junior in a cartoon for her high school newspaper.
Her first book, “Life of Shouty: Good Habits,” published by Rixkin, will be available Tuesday on Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. She said she hopes to print 11 more books for the series.
The first book, fully illustrated and written in verse by Ms. Ricks under the pen name NeonSeon, introduces Shouty Mack as a young man who procrastinates and puts off important tasks.
“He has a messy room. He doesn’t prioritize his life and focuses on the least important things,” she said. “By the end of the book, he goes through a transformation. He decides that he doesn’t want to live like that.”
Ms. Ricks, who has a master’s degree in humanities and social thought from New York University, hopes the book will teach children 8 and older important life lessons about setting goals, prioritizing tasks and dispelling self doubt.
“[Shouty’s] an everyman,” she said. “The themes are universal.”
The next book, “Life of Shouty: Food and Fitness,” due out in January, will focus on healthy living.
Even though Ms. Ricks said she is happy to be following her personal aspirations, she could not have done it without her corporate experience as a brand manager and Web developer.
“There are certain reasons why we go our certain ways,” she said. “I couldn’t have done all this out of high school. The experience has been invaluable.”
Wanting to maintain creative control and rights to Shouty, Ms. Ricks used her corporate prowess to infiltrate the publishing market by helping create Rixkin publishing and production company with the help of investors to launch the Shouty series.
“She’s always been a very creative person,” said her brother Hoyland, who helped her get the book to market. “I believed a lot in the character and I think that her book is great and it’s a great beginning.”
With all the irreverent and bawdy cartoon characters on television, Hoyland Ricks said he thinks Shouty is a refreshing alternative.
“I think he’ll be received very well,” he said. “I think the main challenge is not the content but marketing and getting the word out that Shouty exists. I think parents will be pleased with the message not only for their children, but what they learn from him too.”
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Read original article by Laura Braddick in Northside Neighbor.
Feathered Quill Reviews Life of Shouty: Good Habits
Feathered Quill Book Reviews – Ellen Feld, April 2010
Shouty has a problem – he loves to procrastinate, is lazy, and his favorite sport is watching TV. Will he be able to change his bad habits?
In the charming new book, Life of Shouty: Good Habits, the reader is introduced to a lovable young man named Shouty. Shouty has all sorts of bad habits, from not cleaning his room to forgetting to floss. Noting Shouty’s unpleasant lifestyle, a very wise man gives him some great advice, “Practice good habits the rest of your life.” Unfortunately, like so many of his peers, Shouty thinks he can be lazy now, and deal with fixing his bad habits later. But “later” has a way of creeping up on a person and soon, Shouty is drowning in a sea of bad practices.
“Priorites? Please! ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’”
But then Shouty realized,
“Life overwhelmed him like Kilimanjaro.”
Shouty finally understands that he needs to change his life, but how?
“An effort was made, but the pull was great.
Bad habits teased and lured him with bait.”
Life of Shouty: Good Habits teaches children, in a very gentle and effective way, the consequences of bad decisions. Through the use of rhymes, young readers will quickly be drawn into the story and perhaps see a bit of themselves in the main character. They’ll see how Shouty had great plans for his life but because of his bad habits, his life was going to waste. Children will learn how important it is to have good habits and what they have to do to maintain them (Shouty keeps a list of goals).
The illustrations in this book are very simple, much like those you’d find in a comic book. Indeed, the author/illustrator originally created Shouty as a comic strip for a high school newspaper. With bright, bold colors, uncluttered backgrounds and an ability to portray each emotion via Shouty’s face, the author conveys his message perfectly.
Quill says: Shouty teaches children (and adults!) an important lesson about the tribulations of bad habits.
MBR reviews Life of Shouty: Good Habits
Midwest Book Review – Children’s Bookwatch, March 1, 2010 (Reviewer’s Choice)
“Life of Shouty: Good Habits” is author NeonSeon’s answer to the couch potato syndrome. Shouty is someone we all recognize, a procrastinator. Will he manage to face his inactivity and decisionlessness and begin a positive constructive life with new good habits? Not without a struggle, embellished and emblazoned by the blunt, comic strip art of NeonSeon which does more than poke fun at Shouty. In fact, art (by NeonSeon) mirrors Shouty, and it’s both painful and scary. Yes, Shouty can take charge, accept responsibility, and change, and it is worth the effort. “Life of Shouty: Good Habits” is aimed at a juvenile audience age 8 and up, but adults will like it too.
