Pages of exploration: New children’s book takes readers on a Spokane adventure

Spokane author Megan Young is out with a new children’s book highlighting some of Spokane’s most iconic spots and paying homage to the famous Garbage Goat in Riverfront Park.

“Kid and the Nothing-to-Do Year” features a young goat aptly named Kid who hangs out with the Garbage Goat before running off to have adventures around Spokane. He visits a different spot each season, but he always returns to the Garbage Goat to rest. Through it all, his youthful exuberance nearly leaps off the page.

Illustrator Melissa Murakami said she worked hard to portray that energy. “Portraying emotions in characters is one of the strengths of my art,” she said. “Baby goats themselves just exude that kind of energy. Megan and I would exchange videos back and forth of goats jumping off things.”

In the summer Kid wanders through Riverfront Park, riding the carousel and the SkyRide before zipping past the Clocktower and sliding down the slide at the Big Red Wagon. When fall begins, Kid visits Green Bluff, snacking on apples and standing in line to get pumpkin donuts.

When the snow starts to fall, Kid heads to the top of Mount Spokane and visits Vista House, a stone building built in the 1930s that is on the National Historic Register. He slides down the mountain and builds a snow-goat before heading home. And when the weather warms, Kid visits Bloomsday, Hoopfest and Manito Park.

Young said she was inspired to write the book after she took her daughter to the Looff Carrousel in Riverfront Park on her first birthday. She was looking for a keepsake to remind her of the day and couldn’t find what she wanted. “There’s something missing,” she said. “I want to fill that void.”

Her original idea was to explore the creation of the Garbage Goat, which was created for Expo ’74 by Sister Paula Turnbull, known as “the welding nun.” “That was a little ambitious,” Young said.

Instead, Young made the Garbage Goat a character in her children’s story. She wanted a main character like Kid that children could identify with who would explore local places that children would recognize. “He pretty much embodies everything a kid is,” she said of her main character. “He is a kid by profession. That’s who he is. Kid in the book is a symbol for kids in Spokane as well.”

She started working on the book in earnest last year and found Murakami through work she did on a board game. “I’m very detail -oriented and she is as well,” Young said. “The things I had pictured in my mind, she brought to life.”

Young’s book is available at Auntie’s Bookstore, the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture gift shop, Vintage Prints & Neon in the Garland District and Wishing Tree Books. Those interested in buying the book online and/or having it shipped can order through auntiesbooks.com.

The book was released shortly before Thanksgiving and has been doing well, Young said. She’s already considering plans for another book. “I have a lot of ideas,” she said. “I don’t want to continue just for the sake of continuing. I want it to be a heart story.”

Young said people she has talked to are pleased to see a children’s book that includes some of the Spokane area’s iconic spots. “Everyone has been so positive about it,” she said. “It wasn’t just me feeling like there was a hole.”

Young, who grew up in Spokane, said she didn’t learn a lot about the region’s history until she was attending Washington State University. She hopes her book will help get local children interested in and connected to the city they live in.

“Spokane is so rich, both in our culture and our traditions,” she said. “There’s so many people who make efforts to share local history, but so much of that is geared toward adults. Kids are so full of wonder. If you can share just a teaspoon of what’s out there, it might resonate.”