Williamstown resident Joseph Baumhauer has turned a childhood memory into the basis for a new children’s book.
A few months ago, he released his first book, “The Fuzzy Face Fighters: The Reawakening,” and is now preparing to release its sequel, “Fuzzy Faced Fighters: Fright of the Pumpkin,” about a spooky Halloween adventure with fuzzy-faced warriors.
“I created the idea of the ‘Fuzzy Face Fighters’ when I was 14 years old,” Baumhauer recalled. “It has just been a work in progress from then until now. I have thought about the story plenty of times, but this is the first time I have written it down and submitted it to somebody.”
Baumhauer attended Williamstown High School and has always been creative. He played in the high school band while writing and creating his own songs. After graduation, his goal was to attend art school, something he was unable to do. Instead, he exercised his creative muscles by working with clay, polystyrene, silicone and resins, and produced an hour-long LEGO animation on YouTube.
“When I was a kid, I had three stuffed animals, and they were my fuzzy face fighters,” Baumhauer said. “I would dress them up in homemade cardboard outfits and they would fight my monsters for me.”
Baumhauer used his childhood memories to create the characters Cuddles, Bearhug and Grumbles, who help a young boy named Ed fight his worst nightmares.
“The character in the book is me; he has all of my fears and anxieties and very few friends,” Baumhauer noted.
The book has black and white pages with white lettering, and photos he took of his figurines and his son, 9-year-old Edward, who represents the main character in the story.
Baumhauer said the book is multigenerational, given its depiction of the young boy’s parents and grandparents. It also offers views of different cultures; each bear is from a different country and they all meet at a mountain in China.
“I’ve got a lot of people interested in the book that are much older than I originally anticipated,” Baumhauer explained. “It’s a good story. It’s a deep story. It’s not so much a simple kids story.”
Baumhauer is awaiting release of the sequel and working on the third and fourth books. He is eager to get his story out and interest toy companies in mass producing his creation, and he wants to create a screenplay and movie about the “”Fuzzy Faced Fighters” in the near future.
Readers can find digital copies of “The Fuzzy Face Fighters: The Reawakening” online at Target, Barnes and Noble and Walmart. The book can also be ordered from the publisher’s website at http://dorrancepressroom.com.
For more information about the Fuzzy Fighters, visit Facebook or www.FuzzyFacedFighters.com.
