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07/24/2024 08:30 AMLocal children’s author Jason Cisto would love to share Buddy Barker with the Guilford community at local readings in the town’s pre-schools, elementary schools, and library.
As a mail carrier by day, Jason walked his ideas around the block a few times when crafting concepts for the latest messages found in his Buddy Barker children’s book series, including his newly-published third work, Buddy Barker - Everyone Can Play.
“For books two and three, when I was walking around delivering mail, I would think about the concept for about a month and then begin the writing process,” says Jason, a North Haven postal worker. “When I would sit down to write, I would be able to complete the first draft in under 20 minutes because of the time I spent thinking about it in the days and weeks prior.”
The Buddy Barker series also includes Buddy Barker Learns to Share (2022) and Buddy Barker: The Search for Wendi the Whale (2021). A Wendi the Whale activity book is also available. All of Jason’s books are illustrated by Patrick Carlson and can be found on Amazon.com.
Jason, who goes by the pen name J. Cisto, gears the books to preschoolers through elementary-age readers. Bringing Buddy to life was a process that involved winnowing down a first attempt that began about 10 years ago with some inspiration from his family.
“The first book was dedicated to my oldest nephew — who is now taller than me, I’m ashamed to say!” says Jason, laughing. “I always called him my ‘little buddy,’ which was the inspiration for the character’s name.”
Jason was inspired to write the book after noticing his nephew had retained some great life-lesson information from a children’s book that was read to him. Realizing other books could also carry meaningful messages, Jason’s first thought was to look for more books with topics he could share with his nephew.
“Almost jokingly, I said, ‘I should write the book for him!’ It was like that lightbulb moment. It was the ‘a-ha’ moment that started the whole journey,” says Jason.
Jason wrote the first draft of what would later become Buddy Barker: The Search for Wendi the Whale, keying in on the importance of kids’ listening to their parents.
Sounds simple, but there’s much more to the story, he adds.
“I really had no idea what I was doing! I had never written in that format before. The original version was very long, with chapters and so much extra stuff in it,” he explains. “I sat on it for years and years, and every once in a while, I would flirt with it and reach out to people I knew in literary fields and editorial spaces, and I would make little headway here and there.”
Of all things, the pandemic provided a path for Jason to successfully launch his first book.
“When COVID hit, I realized I had a product I’d been sitting on. I knew I was a creative guy, and I really wanted to see it through to fruition. I got on Upwork.com, which was a lifesaver for me - I’d never even heard of it - and I hired a whole team.”
Among his team, Jason found a literary editor who advised him on changes to pare down the story to meet his target audience. As a result, Buddy Barker: The Search for Wendi the Whale entered the children’s literary world in September 2021 with a splash.
“It was very well received, and even got to number one seller on a couple of different subgenres in Amazon,” says Jason, who followed up with local author readings and other book publicity events.
“After sharing my first book with kids through readings at places and libraries, I saw how it was received, and that helped me to fine-tune my next two books even more,” he says.
In this latest installment, Buddy Barker - a friendly cat with an unlikely-sounding name — and his friends learn an important lesson about sharing and friendship while playing together.
A Northford native now living in East Haven, Jason wrote his latest book in the Buddy Barker series with inspirational assistance from his son, Santino, who is 8, as well as encouragement from his girlfriend and Santino’s mom, Rachel DeMarzo.
“This third book has a football theme because my son is Mr. Football, and some of the secondary characters are his friends from school and his cousins,” Jason says. “They say when you write, you should always hide little parts of yourself because it makes you more passionate about it. That was tremendous advice for me.”
Jason also has some advice: he encourages more aspiring writers to try self-publishing because of its availability and ease.
“It’s so helpful for anyone to get their concept and art out into the world without having to go through a longer traditional process,” says Jason.
For more information on the Buddy Barker series, email jay@buddybarkerbooks.com. To purchase books from the Buddy Barker series, available in print or for Kindle, visit amazon.com/Buddy-Barker/dp/B09Y2687DJ