Two Hudson County High-Tech High School graduates who are passionate about wildlife and conservation recently teamed up with a young artist to publish Eco the Elephant Saves the Jungle, a picture book for young children about the environment. After an 11-month incubation process, “Eco” debuted in February. Since then, 18-year-old co-writers and high-tech grads Roxy Hreb and Zach Fieldman, and 23-year-old artist Zelda Jones have racked up hundreds of sales. Hreb and Jones are from Jersey City; Fieldman lives in Hoboken.
Hreb, who came to Jersey City with her family from her native Ukraine at the age of 9, worked on her family’s vegetable farm, a formative experience that instilled in her a great appreciation for the outdoors.
Eco the Elephant was created “with the hope of inspiring the next generation of kids to think about environmental science and sustainability,” she said.
The group practices what it preaches. After researching which type of print material would be the least harmful to nature, the team settled on a type of thicker card stock. They also pledged to donate 10 percent of the proceeds from the sale of each book to an environmental organization supported by the U.S. Plant-a-Tree program. Forestry Service is supported.
The team is already on track to produce a second small volume in a series of 10 to 15, all featuring talking animals and reflecting the theme of preserving the natural habitat of all living things.
The first book sets the tone with a character called “Mandy the Monkey” faced with the problem of running out of trees to swing on – exploring deforestation in simple terms for younger readers – with Eco the Elephant saves the day by instructing Mandy and her friends to plant new trees to ensure a new habitat and the jungle grows back.
In this way, according to Hreb, “we present solutions that children learn that they can eventually pursue for themselves.”
To convey this in a fun and educational way for young readers, the students spoke with preschool and kindergarten teachers about how to present their materials verbally and visually. They also consulted children’s book author Pavle Sabic (“Walter the Wanderer”) and Shelly Witham, a professor of environmental sciences at Rutgers, among others.
Jones studied animation at the School of Visual Arts for two years and has also worked on commercial storyboards and product design. She hopes Eco the Elephant will help her build a successful career as a freelance artist.
After the team reached their creative end, they researched different business models and decided to print themselves to maximize profit. With a self-imposed deadline of 30 days, they raised $5,000 on Kickstarter from around 60 donors. Eco the Elephant would log in on 24 pages. The group decided to retail it for $10 a copy.
According to Hreb, public readings of “Eco the Elephant Saves the Jungle” at book fairs, festivals and in classrooms have been encouraging. Which is good because, as Fieldman noted, “we just had 1,000 books shipped” to be sold.
Once the summer is over, Fieldman will head to San Diego State University to study business administration; Hreb will remain in the east to take advantage of a full scholarship to study environmental science and economics. and Jones will continue her art career.
But the three will meet virtually to flesh out their second protagonist. Timmy the Turtle has stories to tell about the impact of pollution on oceans and coral reefs.
