It's common practice for authors to write about what they know, so when Sault-born master electrician Steve McKeown began his Animal Trades series on introducing trades to children, he knew just where to start.
Lion the Electrician is the first in an eventual series of self-published children's books by McKeown, a father of three and graduate of White Pines Collegiate & Vocational School, Sault College and Algoma University.
In an interview on Sunday, McKeown said he got his business degree from Algoma and graduated from Sault College, in part because the trades were not celebrated in high school as a viable career path.
"We had shop classes, they were certainly there, but they weren't really highlighted as a viable option," said McKeown. "I still ended up becoming a tradesperson in the end."
Now based in Thunder Bay with his wife Jennifer, part of McKeown's work as a master electrician revolves on working with area high schools to recruit the next generation of electricians.
"This [book] is really just an extension of that," he said. "Why stop at high school? Why not start approaching kids at an early age?"
McKeown sees a place for the book series in elementary school curriculums and even created a lesson plan to go with Lion the Electrician.
Because it deals with some potentially dangerous subject matter, the book also includes a lot of safety information for kids when it comes to electricity.
The idea for the series came from his own experiences relating what he does for a living with his own three kids Norah, Mila and Miles, and McKeown thought it would be helpful to put those stories in book form for others to teach their own children about the opportunities available in the trades.
"There's been some studies and some science that if you start exposing kids at these younger ages and kind of shaping the narrative or planting the seed, that it makes it a more viable option when they do start getting a little bit older," he said.
McKeown planned to rely on Canada Post for distribution from his website, but the strike has put a damper on that. Currently, the book is available for sale at The Shoe Fits in the Station Mall, as well as through Entershine Bookshop in Thunder Bay.
McKeown teamed up with Thunder Bay-based illustrator Andrea Wray for Lion the Electrician.
The next book in the Animal Trades series, Bear the Carpenter, is aiming for a June release.
"That'll be a nice one. It's going to be focused on a female character," said McKeown.