Allen L. Pier

I was born and raised in Chicago, IL, and the outlying suburbs. I loved to draw as a kid, and that eventually led me to a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Communications Design from the University of Illinois in Chicago. During my four years at UIC, I took a course in Creative Writing, and would often receive compliments from instructors on papers and book reports I had written for various classes. But I hadn't seriously thought of writing as an avocation.

Upon graduating from UIC in 1970, I began a job search, but in a recessionary economy it was difficult to land work as a graphic designer with no experience. I began to realize that one of my true passions was cartooning. I felt that creating cartoons was a great way to combine writing with drawing, so I began drawing cartoons and sending them off to various magazines, one of which was National Lampoon. Some of the best cartoonists in the country -- at least in my opinion -- were featured in that publication. So rather than starting small, I decided to send a few of my cartoons to National Lampoon. My first submission was returned with a rejection letter, but handwritten at the top of the letter were the words "Very Good! Send More!" I made several more submissions, all resulting in rejection letters. Cartooning fell to the back burner as I had to find a job to pay my bills.

Fast forward to the 1980's. While working as a contractor in the art department of a large corporation and for minimum wage, I had the opportunity to exercise my talents by doing some cartoon illustration for presentations and special events. One young designer that I met while working there went on to join a local ad agency in Hinsdale, IL, and called me to see if I would be interested in doing some freelance work. That led to a considerable amount of cartoon illustration for a variety of clients, including Brookfield Zoo, some market tests for Cracker Jack and General Mills cereal products, local banks, and more. I continued to freelance for several years.

Fast forward again to the mid-1990s. While working in the Creative Department of a large Accounting and Consulting firm in Chicago, my then fiancé, Elizabeth, and I took a short trip to her birthplace in Crawfordsville, IN, to visit her aging grandmother. While there, we took a stroll along one of the highways that led into town, past an abandoned outdoor theater, and I was appalled at the amount of trash that littered the roadside. It was there the idea for "Ricky and the Grim Wrapper" was born. When we returned to Illinois, I wrote the first draft.

During a parent-teacher conference for my then 7-year-old son, James, the conversation led to my talking briefly about the story to his first-grade teacher. She was very interested, and invited me to come into her classroom and read the story to her class (which, of course, included my son). The kids loved it, and Ms. Presslak suggested I look into getting it published. I credit her for providing the boost – and self-confidence – to look into getting my book published.

After several attempts to get “Ricky and the Grim Wrapper” published with no results, I gave up. However, when self-publishing began gaining popularity, I decided to self-publish using CreateSpace on Amazon. I hired a very talented illustrator, James Koenig, who I discovered online, since I felt my own illustration style was not the right fit for a children’s book. And thus was born the final published work of “Ricky and the Grim Wrapper.”

Since self-publishing "Ricky and the Grim Wrapper" in 2016, I have updated it once by introducing a new female character, and revised some of the copy to give the other female characters a stronger voice. The book is "Story Monster" approved, and in 2019 it won a Family Choice Award.

I retired from the Marketing Department of Allstate Insurance Company in Northbrook, IL, in 2014. In addition to promoting "Ricky" and pursuing other creative endeavors, I drive a school bus part-time. I live with my wife, Elizabeth, in Round Lake, IL. My son, James, to whose first-grade class I read the original draft of “Ricky and the Grim Wrapper,” is now thirty years old.