Margery, my wife, and I had been married three years when our son, Piet (rhymes with "neat") was born. That was a turning point in my career in the field of children's books. The year was 1974. It was the year that I both wrote and illustrated my first book after illustrating quite a few. Piet arrived at about the same time I received a letter from a little girl who wrote, "I like the books you illustrate, but are you really a duck?" That letter gave me the idea for doing a book for Piet about a disaster-prone duck, named Henry, who lives in a bush. I wanted Piet to know that it was all right to have the name Quackenbush. The Henry books became a popular series that include Henry's Important Date, in which Henry races against time to deliver a birthday cake to his friend, Clara, only to find that he has delivered it on the wrong day. Henry launched me into writing and illustrating books on all kinds of subjects.

A number of my author/illustrated books were inspired by Piet as he was growing up. When he took his first steps, at age one, he set out to prove he could fly as well and went crashing to the floor off a sofa. I thought it was time to tell him about the Wright Brothers so I wrote and illustrated my first humorous biography about famous people in history, which led to twenty- three more over the years. They include one of my favorites, James Madison & Dolley Madison and Their Times. Piet helped me with that book to sort out the facts about the War of 1812 so children would be able to understand them. He was in college by that time.

Piet continues to be an inspiration for new books. He recently graduated from Emory University, where he majored in history, and has joined the working world. My latest books reflect on that theme of venturing from home and striving for independence. Batbaby, for one book, is about the adventures of a baby bat going on his first solo flight. Another book, Daughter of Liberty, is about courage, patriotism, and determination which are all necessary things to become successful in an uncertain world.

In between stories about Piet, Margery has been the inspiration for other books including being the prototype for Miss Margery Mallard, world-famous ducktective, in my Miss Mallard Mysteries. My mother, children and adults in the workshops I offer at my studio, my editors, teachers, librarians, and children I have met on author visits have all inspired books.

This is how I became a writer in addition to being an illustrator. For me, both involve the same process, which is observing other people and their experiences.

Robert Quackenbush

Within a week after the collapse of the Twin Towers, Robert Quackenbush went to work as a volunteer at community centers in lower Manhattan working with children who had lost significant people in their lives in the disaster or had seen it happening at close range (there were elementary schools in the area). He set to work with children in groups and had them makes books about "safe places" to be. The children responded to this and made books about their homes, family and friends. When they were finished, they were lifted from sadness to pride over at the books they created. One boy, Ben, age 8, who had been silent and isolated from his peers after the tragedy, made a book about the distruction of the towers and what he had seen. He drew policemen and firemen going to their deaths, people falling from the windows, and the terrible explosions as the planes crashed into the buildings.

In the example below, Ben found release from pent-up feelings about the events 9/11 in a drawing (© Robert Quackenbush Studios. All rights reserved.). When Ben came to the last page of his book, he asked to leave the room. When he returned he drew the Twin Towers whole again. When he was finished, he closed his book and rejoined his friends and was happily engaged in conversation and play again.

This was the beginning of the establishment of Liberty Avenue Progam. Robert Quackenbush found people and organizations in the mental health profession who were interested in his program. The purpose of the program is to help children and teens to resolve their emotional conflicts in ways they can accept, such as working together in groups on art, writing , music, dance, and theater projects that are nurturing to the spirit and that provide the means to channel traumas into creative works. The program was extended into support groups for the firemen and policemen who were on the rescue teams at Ground Zero and to working with the children of firemen and policemen.

New Yorkers are brave. We heal quickly after disasters and get on with our work and our lives. Those children who smelled and saw the massive, smoldering pile at Ground Zero every day for weeks also saw adults coping with the horror as Lower Manhattan's recovery swirled about them. They learned that life, indeed, does go on.

Today the Liberty Avenue Program continues to flourish at Robert Quackenbush Studios helping children and teens to find their way and realize their full potentials in our uncertain world. Other ways New York City children and teens continue to display their resiliency through their art is at such events as the P.A.L. Performing Arts Art and Poetry Contests and in theater and dance groups such as the Daughter of Liberty Drama Camp mentioned above.

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