Waukesha County Native Creates Children's Books During Pandemic

WAUKESHA COUNTY, WI — Sussex native Tim Rades said he was always good at things "you couldn't make money at."

When he lived in Wisconsin, he was in a Milwaukee rock band called "The Critics." He photocopied photos for band posters, "Which looked like a ransom letter." After asking his wife's best friend to create posters, she told him to go to school for graphic design.

He attended Madison Area Technical College in Madison for graphic design.

"I hit graphic design at the worst possible time," he said. "It was back to the drawing board."

Rades and his family moved out west to Washington state. After having his two kids, Presley and Jagger — named after Elvis and Mick, respectively — he joined a U2 tribute band. He also worked various retail jobs.

At one point, he remembered he wrote a poem for his mom and created a book based on it. From there, he wrote another book for his dad. He also made books for a friend and then one about his wife and kids.

"It was my first dabble. I thought I could maybe make something out of this," Rades told Patch.

His daughter was having a costume party, and her friend was wearing a mermaid costume.

"She asked where she was supposed to put something. I said, Oh, mermaids don't have pockets,'" Rades said.

He quickly ran and put a note on his phone and felt it was a book idea. He created a poem and made it into a book.

"It fell together, and I felt like I was grooving," he said.

While on a mini-vacation with family, he came up with the idea about robots not having taste buds. Then the pandemic hit in February, and everything snowballed.

"I was told I had to stay home and they were shutting down Washington," Rades said.

His wife works in the medical field and was considered an essential worker. Tim stayed home to help their two kids with virtual learning.

"It was Daddy's school by day and writing by night for me," he said.

The pandemic allowed him to have the outlet to create watercolor illustrations and come up with a fun storyline.

His mother-in-law told him about a story idea she had, and he incorporated it into a book called "The Little Girl Who Chased Fireflies."

Rades sent it to her as a Mother's Day book. He remembered how happy it made her, and Rades liked making people feel that way with a book.

During the pandemic, the family had to say goodbye to their beloved 10-year-old dog, Bodhi. He was diagnosed with cancer in January and was given two to five months to live.

"I believe that because of the pandemic and the fact that I had to stay at home 24/7 with him and the kiddos, that we were so fortunate to have him for longer than expected," Rades said.

The pooch passed away at the end of September, almost six months later than expected.

"I had finished 'There Might Be Poop,' and I was able to read it to him weeks before he passed. That was one of the other positives of the lockdown," he said.

No regrets

Rades went on to author and illustrate his books called, "Mermaids Don't Have Pockets," "Robots Don't Have Tastebuds," "Dinosaurs Didn't Have Dance Parties" and "There Might Be Poop."

Rades said he wanted his books to be funny but also have a message or moral at the end. For "Mermaids," it was that mermaids want legs like humans, but here are all the things mermaids can and can't do. The message is to be happy with who you are.

In "Robots," these machines can do all these cool things — but as a human, you get to experience taste such as a delicious ice cream cone.

"The robot can do things because it has a button you press on, but you don't need those because you have a heart," he said.

For now, he puts his books on Amazon.com to show his work and earn a few bucks. Rades hopes to find an agent and publisher eventually to bring his work to a larger market.

His advice for aspiring writers during and after the pandemic is to get out there.

"Just do it. You don't want to regret anything," Rades said.

To learn more about Rades' work, visit his Facebook page.