A dull visit to their Aunt’s house turns into a magical and thrilling adventure when Lizzy and her brother Ron venture into the nearby forest. An inviting path leads to a shrouded lake in the woods… Perfect for skipping stones, but who or what keeps throwing them back?
Carolyn Watson Dubisch has created an imaginative and thrilling story for children, especially those who love dragons! We asked Carolyn about her author journey and the passion behind her book, Dragon Stones, published in April of 2022.
What do you hope kids or readers get from your story?
The core of the story is really a mystery. The children skip stones on the lake, and then unexpectedly, they skip back. The stones are hot, and a strange symbol appears on them.
I hope readers try to solve these puzzling events in the story. Mysteries are an important tool to sharpen children’s minds. They help them learn to study, pick out clues, and understand cause and effect. These are important tools to help them better understand the world around them. Mysteries are an excellent theme for books and don’t necessarily need to involve crime solving, which my book doesn’t.
Is there a hidden message?
Some reviewers have written they have found a “message” in Dragon Stones, but it’s a fabrication. This is an imaginative story that has great value on its own.
Imaginative stories for children introduce new ideas into their world. Stories about unusual characters, fantastic worlds, and alien planets can offer an unusual perspective on what would seem mundane or dull.
Stories of this nature can spark a child’s imagination and inspire their own stories and play. While I don’t think there is anything wrong with weaving messages into a story, I just don’t think every story needs a message.
The Inspiration
As a child, I also (like my main character, Lizzy) had a rambunctious older brother. We spent our summers in central Maine each year on Salmon Lake. My brother was brilliant at skipping stones on the lake shore. None of us could rival him, even when he broke his arm and had to use his other hand. Thinking about this time in my life, I pondered a “what if.”
What if the stones came back?
The Challenges of Publishing a Book
This book took a long time. I wrote the story in 2002 when my children were very
small. It was scribbled into a spiral-bound notebook that I then tucked away. That little notebook moved with us from New York to Arizona and then to Mexico, where I live now.
When the pandemic began in 2020, I had all my murals and art shows canceled, so I began looking through my “in progress” children’s books, finished them up and started paging through my old notebooks. I began the process of editing and illustrating this story mid-last year.
All Authors Need Support
When I started work on this book, I had just joined up with a group of other children’s book authors. We worked together to promote our work and encourage each other through this process. They were an incredible support group, and even though Kid Lit Carousel has dissolved, I credit them for keeping me going.
Overall my greatest support is from my husband, Mike Dubisch. We met at The School of Visual Arts in NYC way back in the 90s and have supported each other’s creative endeavors ever since. He’s excellent at giving me feedback on my writing and art, and this book is dedicated to him.
About Carolyn Watson Dubisch
Carolyn Watson Dubisch is the author/illustrator of 15 children’s books and illustrated four children’s books with various authors. She also writes and illustrates several comic series for kids. Some of her comic book series include “The Horribles” and “The Dragon in The Closet”.
She currently lives in a house by the beach in Mazatlán, Mexico, with her husband, world-famous fantasy artist Mike Dubisch, and her youngest daughter. She also has a very old dog and four Mexican street cats who make life interesting every day.
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