’Spout the Dragon’

The nightly stories David Adams makes up for his two daughters often feature one of their favorite creatures. The girls, Aria, 6, and Brielle, 4, love dragons. So, when the Petaluma resident and officer in the California Highway Patrol decided to try his hand at writing a children’s book, choosing for his hero one of the winged creatures of myth was easy.

But a fire-breathing dragon would hardly be welcome in the fire-plagued North Bay. Much better would be a water-breathing dragon -- sort of a flying firetruck. Thus was born Spout the Dragon.

In Adams’ recently published tale, “Spout the Dragon Becomes a Firefighter,” Spout faces a problem many boys and girls experience—he doesn’t feel like he fits in. After all, dragons are famously feared for breathing fire, but he only breathes out water.

Who would be scared of that?

When he is bullied by his hot-headed fellow dragons, the feeling of being different just gets worse.

Adams and his wife Amanda moved to Petaluma a year ago from Guerneville, where they had relocated from Coffey Park in Santa Rosa shortly before the October 2017 fires. When he first confided to Amanda his desire to write a children’s book, she encouraged him to do it. It was the fires that inspired the plot of the story. When the forest where Spout lives catches fire and the conflagration seems out of control, he comes to the aid of firefighters, breathing a torrent of water down on the flames. And that’s how Spout becomes a firefighter.

“He learns to value his difference,” Adams said.

Without pictures, a good children’s book is only half done. Adams needed the right artist. He turned to Fiverr, an online agency for freelancers around the world. At the Fiverr website he studied the portfolios of many illustrators, finally settling on Nguyen Thi Hien, an artist who lives in Vietnam.

“She was the best, both for her art and for her professionalism in following up with me and communicating,” Adams said.

Using his cell phone, Adams would send her his admittedly “silly stick drawings,” as well as photos he had taken of the coastal landscape. She would respond with sketches and drafts.

“She turned my drawings into beautiful pictures,” he said.

Local readers of the book will probably recognize the golden hills and dark swaths of trees and brush in the background of the illustrations. In fact, anyone familiar with the Bodega Fire Department and its firehouse will find the actual building in the book.

Adams, whose CHP service area includes Bodega Bay, enjoys close ties with the Bodega firefighters. They even feed him.

“They’re the best cooks,” Adams said. “They treat me well, especially on brunch days.”

To show his appreciation—and to poke a little fun at them—his story includes a character called “Capt. Lou,” who will be easily recognized by those who know the department. And he quotes one of their tried-and-true witticisms in the story: “We eat until tired, we sleep until hungry.”

Adams earned a degree from the Administration of Justice Program at Santa Rosa Junior College, then became EMT-certified through the junior college, thinking he might become a firefighter. He soon settled on a career with the highway patrol. A six-year veteran, he trained in San Jose.

When he showed his hot-off-the-press book to his colleagues at CHP, “My office was pretty surprised,” he said.

Although dad is published now, the girls Brielle and Aria still expect a fresh bedtime story.

“Sometimes, I ask them for a theme,” Adams said. “My youngest usually falls asleep during the let’s-pretend stories, but the oldest stays awake.”

Adams is already working on a Spout the Dragon sequel, and he has an idea for a third story. He would like to continue working with the artist who brought his chubby blue hero to life.

(“Spout the Dragon Becomes a Firefighter,” a 34-page hardcover, is available through the publisher, Dorrance Publishing, and from Amazon and Barnes & Noble)