Stew Mosberg hopes others love wolves as much as he does.
The native New Yorker and Durango journalist and author is in the final days of a Kickstarter crowd-funding project to publish his children’s book, White Feather and the Wolves. The book’s target age is 5- to 10-year-olds.
“My hope is that young readers will gain a deeper understanding of the significance wolves have in our native heritage, and not to be afraid of them as I had been and to gain new found respect for these awesome creatures,” Mosberg said.
Mosberg said he chose a crowd-funding option rather than pitching the book to a publisher because he wants to self-publish White Feather. That way, he said, he will be able to maintain control of the story line and illustration style. Mosberg said if the public helps him get the book published, he will donate much of the proceeds from book sales to the Wolfwood Refuge in Ignacio.
Mosberg’s interest in wolves was born from his childhood fear of them.
“That apprehension was based largely on fairy tales and movies,” he said. “As an adult, I began to study them and ultimately wrote the story so children would not be afraid of them as I had been.”
Once he began to understand rather than fear wolves, he decided to write a story that traces the lives of one wolf pack through a season of hunting and the birth of its pups.
“Living in Durango, surrounded by its natural beauty and the many Native American dwelling places, it felt appropriate to share factual information about wolves through the voice of a tribal elder, and that is how the grandfatherly White Feather came into being,” he said.
In telling the tribe’s children about wolves, White Feather says, “They lived among us and we ran together and played together. They watched over their children as we do our own. They taught us how to hunt and how to respect the land and each other.”
The book will be illustrated in color and black and white, with drawings by Allan Guy, a longtime friend of Mosberg who lives in Virginia. Durango graphic artist Tim Kapustka will design the finished product.
ted@durangoherald.com
Join the pack
Stew Mosberg’s Kickstarter project for White Feather and the Wolves needs to reach a goal of $6,500 by June 9.
To donate and read more about the project, visit www.kickstarter.com/projects/stewmosberg/white-feather-and-the-wolves.
