Cochrane grief author Rick Bergh recently teamed up with wife Erica Phare-Bergh, to take his writing to new territories, children’s books with sing-along songs.
“About two years ago, I told Erica I need to do something fun because it is hard to write about (grief) all the time,” Rick explained.
“As a couple you make each other bigger so we asked, what could we do to make each other bigger and we thought, ‘let’s do a project together.’ Erica suggested she write a song for every story.”
“It’s good because Rick has all the ideas and creative side and…” Erica said.
“That’s not true,” Rick interrupted with a laugh. “You are the creative side – she helps tweak my stories and I don’t do anything with her music because she is the talented one there.”
Erica is a music teacher for schools under the Calgary Board of Education and has obtained her Master of Music degree from McGill University. Each story will have a sing-along song for the readers, written by Erica, as well as a classical piece of music embedded in each song. Each book will include a link to song, available online.
“My first interest in classical music was through Bugs Bunny, in excerpts on the show, and I thought if we just include a recognizable tune each one then the teacher (or parent) can springboard from there,” Erica explained.
The couple released their first book, “I Want To Play With The Sun” last year and their second book, “Mr. Lumberjack” was just made available to Canadians on Amazon.ca. The first book has already hit the top seller list on its category on Amazon, according to the author.
The husband and wife duo also teamed up with Albertan illustrator Franceska ‘Checka’ Dnestrianschii, showcasing bold and colorful cartoon in the books – the artist’s first pieces of published work.
The books will also soon be available at Chapters and Indigo in select stores in Calgary.
“We still have our separate professions but this is a fun project together that we can share with our grandchildren now,” Rick explained. “We are not doing it because we want to make a bunch of money… but maybe it becomes a legacy to our grandkids and I’d be okay with that.”
Currently the couple have written stories and songs for 12 children’s books and said they are hopeful to have the first four books published by April. From learning about others feelings, to taking care of the environment, to listening to your parents, the Berghs strive to write “good quality stories that are heart-warming and respectful and bring laughter into peoples hearts and lives,” Rick reflected. “They are all teaching stories that came out of experience.”
The next two books the couple will attempt to publish are from what the Bergh’s call their ‘Connor series’ – books inspired by their grandson. The third book, “Stretchy Cheese Pizza” is about their grandson putting too much cheese on the pizza, which gets a mind of it’s own and runs around town causing mischief, and the fourth book, “The Boy With The Beard” is about a boy wishes for a beard and wakes up one morning to find his wish came true, and later realizes the hassles of shaving.
“The all have lessons,” Erica explained with a laugh.
When asked if Rick would ever consider incorporating his grief writing into his children’s books, he pondered the question.
“I think it would be fun to write a hard book – I do have an outline of a book about teaching children to cope with their grief,” Rick explained.
“(The book) would teach children how to grieve and mourn and to help them step forward in life.”
For more information, go to the Bergh’s website at asongwitheverystory.com.
The first two books, “I Want To Play With The Sun” and “Mr. Lumberjack” are available on Amazon.ca
