'The Crush' available now; Local author releases new children's book

Oh, this is such a great story, and there's a great story that you get to read as well here. A local author just released his first children's book called The Crush. Ben Pizza's here with his mom, Allison, to share more about the book and this unique cast of characters. The book is there. There's The Crush, and at the top it says 724 Deeds, which we are going to get to very soon. First of all, Mom, Allison, thanks for joining us today. Set the scene for us with Ben. He graduated in 2022 from Brown Deer High School. always had this fascination with stories, watching TV, and then he achieved greatness with getting a certificate in Adobe Photoshop as well as Illustrator, a rare thing to happen at Brown Deer High School. But let's go back a little bit further with the history. I would say that it started when, I mean, he was diagnosed with autism when he was a teenager, but before that he was diagnosed with expressive receptive language processing disorder. So I would say school was difficult but one of the first things that happened that really changed the trajectory of his creative journey is working with Islands of Brilliance and taking different workshops there design workshops and then we built off of that when he was in high school in his graphic design classes with Mr. Penny Michael Penny who's an excellent teacher at Brown Deer High School and Mr. Pinney was really helpful in Ben achieving that certification. Yeah now some time has passed since high school right we're at four years later and the proof is right there of how well he's working and currently achieving those goals. Ben I have to say first of all congratulations thanks for being here today the book looks great the illustrations look great as well when you first held that printed copy of Crush in your hands uh how did it make you feel to see your name on the cover knowing that that you did this to tell you the truth it felt very exciting and it made me feel very proud i would say so i mean for anybody to achieve this to have their first book in print that speaks volumes and and here's the thing too, Allison, that this book is the start of something special, meaning that there are so many more books that are in the works. We have to kind of get to the meaning of the book though first, Ben, for you, what is the crux about it? Is it about Bori who has a crush on Chelsea and his friends try to help him by giving him different suggestions on how to make a good first impression, yeah and I'll tell you this, the names in this book are phenomenal. Bori Ovaline is one of the characters' names. Reese Avenator is another one. Violet Blossomworth. You've created this story based on these characters, Not only did you create the story, you wrote the story with help from, of course, Amy Schwabe, but also the characterizations of them. You designed those as well. Very stunning. And what's special when you actually see the book is that there's a group called the 724 Gang. What's so special about the 724 Gang? They each have their own style and personality. Yeah, and isn't that the truth about life in general? We go through every day noticing that. whether you're a kid or you're an adult, we all have different personalities. And I think, Allison, one of the things that probably you saw when this book was starting to get pieced together is that you were noticing the personalities in the book in writing form but also in the illustrations, what was it like when you then started to see the illustrations pop up and you saw the characters individually have those those characteristics that maybe Ben saw at high school, I think he really works off of a very specific graphic design template. I love it. And he really obviously uses a lot of color. And he does have a definite eye for what he thinks the character should be wearing. Yeah. It had to be interesting to see that evolution of the character from the mind to the paper to the finished product as well. And even better, Allison, is that these are cards, trading cards that he's created. So this is like a one-of-one almost, you know, situation where you can collect the trading cards. But in the book here, there are characteristics of Bori and Violet taken from your friends and family. How so? How are those characteristics of Bori and Violet taken from your friends or your family members? Do you remember? Well, I start with how the character looks then come up with personality traits I usually get inspiration from other TV shows and movies yeah and those other TV shows and movies I know we talked about this off camera Thomas the Train, Blue's Clues are a big part of what's another one that that Ben was into My Little Pony, French Miss Magic and Equestria Girls amazing I I would imagine that that started it as an early age, kind of something that he latched onto when he was watching and then gave you guys maybe a glimpse of hope as to what he could be. And when you had told me that you didn't necessarily want him to pursue the world of writing, story writing or illustration, why was that? Right. Well, I mean, I think when children with disabilities who have an IEP in school when they hit 14 you're working on their post-secondary transition plan and throughout those years from the time he was 14 on when anybody would ask Ben what his career goal was he'd say he wanted to create his own TV shows and he was consistent in that yeah but I think we get stuck in that traditional paradigm yeah of trying to redirect him to something more realistic and after pursuing different avenues for employment we circled back and decided to pivot to why don't we pursue his dream good for you and I bet you he appreciates that as well what was it like working with your mom and and Amy to complete this book well I really liked it when Amy came over to my house because it gave me a chance to show her new artwork I've created and tell her new story ideas that I've come up with in person. Ben, is there a specific feeling or message that you want people to know about friendship or about kindness through the book, The Crush? The best way to make a good first impression is to just be yourself. I love that. I think that speaks volumes as well, too. You've done an amazing job of raising such such a gentleman, but also such a creative man here as well. What's next? I know that there's more stories. The 724 Deeds gang is going to continue on doing great deeds. Do you see more books, more illustrations, possibly a show? Yeah. The next book is called The Bullies, and it's where the 724 Deeds Gang helped Jaden build up confidence and stand up to two bullies named Ken and Kelly. Wow. I'll tell you what, a lot of people are going to benefit from reading this book, Ben, and big congratulations on this book number one. you come back when book number two happens and this is just one series i know there's offshoots there's other ideas that ben has i can't wait to hear them, can't wait to read them as well, Allison uh thank you for for reaching out to us to share this story it is a very meaningful one and do yourself a favor we can pick up this book where what's the best place to find it you can buy it on amazon and we're also selling it in person at the self-determination conference in the dells next week and it's also available on benpetesbigcartel.com i love the name benpetesbigcartel.com congratulations guys been pleasure meeting you as well too more real milwaukee coming back after the break that is something