Schrunk Releases Her First Children's Book

by Blake Hilkemeier, Atkinson Graphic

Karlee Schrunk, an Atkinson native, has officially released her first self-published children's book on Wednesday, Nov. 22, over three years after finishing the writing for the story. 

The book, titled “Cowboys Can Ranch”, is a 25-page story inspired by her oldest son Kade, and is about a day in the life of a cowboy. 

“I've always wanted to create,” said Schrunk. “I'm an extroverted-introvert, I like to create things for myself and others and love to share what I'm passionate about.”

Schrunk, the owner of the dance studio in Atkinson, has always enjoyed writing and photography. Aside from the dance studio, Schrunk is a tech editor and an avid reader. Despite graduating college with a degree in business and a minor in dance, Schrunk always knew how much she loved to create, and had always hoped to put something out to the public one day.

Luckily for Schrunk, her love for dance, ranching, her son, photography, and reading finally all came together during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I actually wrote the book back in 2020,” Schrunk said. “It just took this long to complete the process and actually get it published.”

What “process” is Schrunk talking about? Well, to go along with writing and self-publishing, Schrunk also does all of the illustrations for her books. With her knowledge of computers, Schrunk takes her own pictures and uses her computer to digitize them to give them a more artsy feel, giving Schrunk the title of “jack of all trades” in the world of writing. 

Now that Schrunk finally has her first published work under her belt, it seems the creative ball has finally started rolling, with the ideas flowing freely. 

“I already have two more books in the works,” she said. “I've actually already completed the writing process for the next two books, now I just need to do the illustrations for them and begin the process of getting them published as well.”

“Cowboys Can Dance” is the next book in line for the Schrunk series. The book plans to be a story that melts both her passions for dancing and the cowboy lifestyle into one. “I Love You Cowboy” will follow shortly after to be the third book in the series, if all goes to plan. 

“Cowboys Can Ranch” was released to the public on Wednesday, Nov. 22. The book can now be found for sale on Amazon.com. Now that the book has finally been released, Schrunk plans on doing a book signing somewhere in Atkinson to give kids an opportunity to ask her questions about the book and connect with the author.

(0) COMMENTS

Welcome to the discussion.