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Biography |
Eddie
Ritz was born in Roundup, Montana. After
graduating from Roundup High School, he
moved to Billings, Montana and attended
Eastern Montana College (now MSU-B). This
led him to work at Suttons Sportswear, eventually
becoming one of their artists. In 2002,
he went to work for Futura, Inc. as the
Head of the Art Department, where he continues
to work today.
Karla Ritz was born in Billings, Montana
and after graduating from Billings Christian
School, she worked as a dental assistant
at Dr. Blackford’s office. Karla then
relocated to El Cajon, California where
she attended and graduated from Christian
Heritage College (now San Diego Christian
College), with a degree in Elementary Education.
She moved back to Billings to teach at Billings
Christian School where she taught first
grade for 11 years.
Eddie and Karla met at Faith Chapel in 2000
and were married in 2002. When their son
was two years old, Eddie noticed that, like
other little boys, he was fascinated with
cars, tractors, trains, and construction
equipment. He could sit and watch a digger
and be content with life. It was this realization
that inspired Eddie to write and publish
a children’s book about construction
equipment. When trying to find a name for
the book, Karla said, “Call it Dean’s
Diggers!” This was the perfect name
for the book as it is based on their son’s
middle name, and he is the cartoon character
in the book.
After a year of working on the book, Eddie
and Karla are proud to present Dean’s
Diggers. They enjoy spending time reading
this book to their now three year old son
and hope that others will be able to spend
as many precious moments with their children
as well.
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Why
did we write “Dean’s Diggers” |
I
remember growing up and not having many, if any,
age appropriate books around to read. I was never
really all that interested in reading and I don’t
ever remember reading or having any good children’s
books. I remember that it was very hard for me
to get started in school and even harder to keep
up with the other kids. I skated through most
of my years in school reading as little as possible.
If I had to read a book, I would try to cheat
by finding books on tape. I never realized how
much fun reading was until I was in my late 20’s,
and now I try to read as many books as possible.
My wife Karla loves to read and has loved reading
all of her life. My wife and I made a decision
to read to our child from the first weeks of his
life. We think reading is such an important part
of a child’s education and their development.
We have read many different children’s books,
have seen some very good ones and others that
were not so good. The one thing we noticed was
that we could not find very many interesting books
that were really geared toward boys. This was
one of the reasons we wanted to write a book for
boys, a book that would open their minds and draw
them into the world of books. Books are a gateway
into fun, imaginative worlds that never have to
end, even when you grow up.
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Inspiration
behind “Dean’s Diggers” |
I
had never in my life thought I could write a children's
book, especially one about construction equipment.
At first, I dismissed it thinking, “Yeah,
right! Me, write a book! Ha, ha! Good one!”
However, after several weeks of dismissing the
idea, I decided I would give it a try and do one
page to show to people to see what they thought.
They loved it, and their kids loved it. After
the positive feedback, I knew I had to give it
a try. Then I thought, what should I call this
book. Just then my wife said, “Call it Dean’s
Diggers”. I said, “That's perfect,
after our son's name, and he can be the main character!”
The first cartoon drawing of my son looked so
good, and I was so excited, that I almost cried;
maybe it’s a father thing. God and our son
are the inspirations behind this book. We are
not sure where it will go, but we are having fun
doing it.
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Illustrators |
Eddie
Ritz and Dean Frasier |
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