Elyria native authors new children's book

ELYRIA — An award-winning children's book creator and illustrator is from right here in Elyria, and he has a new book coming out, "On the Air with Dr. Doodlebug." Merrill Rainey, who is also a paper toy maker, grew up in Elyria, attending St. Mary School, and graduated from Elyria High School in 1998. He graduated from Kent State University in 2003 with a degree in visual communication design with a background in illustration. While Rainey now lives in Whitehouse, Ohio, his ties to Elyria run deep with family and friends still living in the area. His brother, Mel Rainey, is an art teacher at Elyria High. "I come back periodically," Rainey said. "I always thought it would be fun to go back to St. Mary to read to the kids. The current principal was actually my kindergarten teacher. I'd also like to go the Elyria library. I was always there as a kid. I'd walk there once a week, where I had certain books on record that I always liked to pull out and listen to. I'd like to do a program for the kids there as well." With his latest book, "On the Air with Dr. Doodlebug," coming out Oct. 21, he may just get the opportunity. Rainey has been the illustrator, creator and/or co-creator on several children's books, including "Oink! I'm a Pig," "Roar! I'm a Dinosaur," "Asteroid Goldberg Passover in Outer Space," "Giants Are Very Brave People," "Color Cut Create Paper Toy Dinosaur World," "Color Cut Create Paper Toy Horse Ranch" and "My First Town: A Building Block Book." His latest, Dr. Doodlebug, is a collaboration with Susan E. Goodman. "It's a series of 'Dear Sally' letters written by bugs, asking questions on a radio talk show," Rainey said. "We started that project in 2021, but it took a while to get it into the right fashion." Rainey has been a full-time freelance illustrator for 13 years. In addition to children's books, he also does work for magazines such as Highlights, Ranger Rick and Humpty Dumpty. "I was always kind of an art kid," Rainey said. "I knew I wanted to do something with art at Kent. I was also a theater kid growing up and I toyed with the idea of doing something with that." Ultimately, it was a suggestion to check out the senior projects of a couple of Kent students that made him focus on illustrating children's books. "I truly believe this is what I was meant to do," he said. "I'm honored and humbled that I'm able to do this as a living, creating new work for my audience, which is kids." Rainey likes to tell kids about his days growing up when he goes to readings because it all ties in to what he does now. "We were bored a lot as kids," Rainey said. "We had to figure out ways to entertain ourselves. We would draw, imagine adventures, build forts and everything else. I want to bring back those things I did as a kid, bring back those opportunities before cable TV and the internet." Many of his books are all about that creativity with kids in charge of building and creating. "A few years ago at one of my paper toy workshops, a young man approached me and asked why I wrote and illustrated picture books," Rainey recalled. "At that moment, I didn't exactly know the answer to his inquiry. Over the next few months, this question really made me think about why I do what I do, and I kept coming back to one simple answer. I create my work in the hope that it will inspire the next generation of creative thinkers." It's something he instilled in his own kids, who also work as his testers. "My kids help me out with things," he said. "They've been hand models, voices for book trailers." His 15-year-old son, Chase, has been with him on his journey since the beginning. "Chase is a builder," Rainey said. "He'd come home from school when he was younger and build the new dinosaur or horse that I was working on. If he ran into trouble, I'd see where other kids might too and I'd figure out a way to change what I was doing." His 11-year-old daughter, Zoey, is more of a drawer, he said. "She had a lot of patience from the get go," Rainey said. "She would be home with me three days a week and I'd draw a dog for her to paint. At a very early age, she could tell how much water to add to create different effects. She would end up with something untraditional from what you would get from a 3- or 4-year-old, which was a very cool thing." Over the years, Rainey has done school visits to her school, as well as schools throughout his area. He travels to bookstores as far away as lower Michigan, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indiana and Cleveland. "For me, literacy has always been a big thing in my family, growing up and now," he said. "My wife, Brooke, is a second grade teacher, and we are big fans of reading, writing and math — the things you should know. I collect old Golden Books and picture books and I love to find the ones that are drawn on and doodled in. It lets me know that some child loved that book to death. That's what I want for my books." Rainey's book, "Giants Are Very Brave People," which was written by Florence Parry Heide, was a 2023 Cybils Awards nominee and "Roar! I'm a Dinosaur" was winner of the Good Housekeeping Best Kids' Board Book of 2022. Find Rainey's books on Amazon or at any major retail store. For more about Rainey and to see some of his illustrations or paper crafts, visit www.littlerainey.com. Contact Christina Jolliffe at ctnews@chroniclet.com.