Monday, May 8, 2017

Rockford Outsider Poet Publishes Second Children's Book

Rockford based publisher, Zombie Logic Press, is proud to announce the release of its seventh book “Atrocious Poems A to Z.” This is the second children's book by Rockford creative team and real life couple Thomas L. Vaultonburg of Zombie Logic Press and Jenny Mathews of Rockford Illustrating. Atrocious Poems A To Z is a book about all the things kids love to hate. Vegetables, inoculations, haircuts, monsters under the bed, sharing etc. Twenty-six different amusing poems and illustrations designed to help children cope with these anxiety-producing moments of childhood. Many of the poems also contain lessons in literary form, theme, and literary devices such as oxymoron, paradox, onomatopoeia, and verbal irony.

For Vaultonburg, the project is the culmination of a class project that began at Mary Morgan Grade School almost forty years ago when his 5th grade class was tasked with writing and illustrating a children's book all by themselves. When his lack of effort was chided by the teacher Vaultonburg took it to heart three decades later when he vowed to finish the book he had put such a half-hearted effort into, and after eight years of work, and lots of encouragement from the illustrator, Jenny Mathews, has written a book that will be on the walls of the Rockford Art Museum starting June 9th.

Limited editions of Atrocious Poems A to Z are available for pre-order through ZombieLogicPress.com and will make its debut June 9th 2017 at the Rockford Art Museum. Atrocious Poems A to Z's original pages will be included in an exhibition this summer at the Rockford Art Museum called Bittersweet Observations. “We are very honored to be part of this show at one of our hometown's most prestigious and integral institutions,” says Vaultonburg “It's a wonderful opportunity to teach kids about literary devices in a fun way.” The illustrations from the book can be seen at Rockford Art Museum from June 9th to October 1st.


The book is the fourth in the Rock River Literary Series, publishing authors exclusively from Rockford, Illinois, and the Rock River Valley area. A Kickstarter campaign has been established to raise funds for the project, and future projects in the series at Kickstarter