In April 2025 we captured images of the author sharing Bronson’s Flood with preschool children at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansdale, PA and a Harleysville father reading Bronson to his daughter.

 

 

 

Why Bronson’s story matters

 

Bronson’s Flood is the story about how a beaver in the Wide Woods works with his friends to spare his neighborhood from a flash flood.

In the process he discovers his special gifts and how to use them to make a difference while teaming with others.

The idea for Bronson’s Flood originated about 20 years ago, when my wife, Lynn, and I enjoyed camping at Beaver Valley Campground in picturesque Upper Black Eddy in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County. Watching the wildlife surrounding our trailer started my thinking. At the same time, I was working as a long-term flood recovery volunteer along the Delaware River in the community of Raubsville, not far from the campground. 

A group of church volunteers including Lutheran seminarians, members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansdale, our home congregation, and the Rev. William Rex, then a pastor in nearby Ferndale, practiced mucking out and home repairs in the wake of tropical storms. It was exhausting but rewarding work as the residents we served in Williams Township were elderly and living along the river in simple bungalows. They really needed us. We restored the home of Ike Repsher, a retired letter carrier, and his spouse, Helen, a potter. During many years in their simple dwelling, they had never-before experienced destructive flooding. We held a simple service, led by Bill, to bless their restored house. Tragically, a year later, flooding recurred, compromising their dwelling to the point where they decided to abandon the house they had known for decades and relocate across Route 611. 

Subsequently in 2005 and 2006, Lynn and I volunteered to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi. I worked with recovery crews in the company of Trinity volunteers. On a trip Lynn and I made together, she plied her nursing trade by volunteering in a Biloxi, MS, clinic. Along the way I interviewed and told the stories of several young AmeriCorps workers devoting months of their lives to the recovery.

The stories I heard and told from my recovery experiences contributed much to how I went about writing Bronson’s Flood for children.

In addition to depicting the wildlife I had encountered while camping, I wanted to give children a glimpse of how human creatures often work together to overcome natural calamities like flooding. I also want them to discover their gifts just the way Bronson did. 

Julia Frank, a coordinator across Pennsylvania with Lutheran Disaster Response, also inspired the book. A portion from the income we get from Bronson’s Flood sales, are passed on to the work Julia so ably leads. A few years ago, I worked with John Kahler, a partner in our Marlyn Publishing venture, to develop a video about work Julia coordinated after flooding impacted Eastwick, a community near Philadelphia International Airport.

Julia provided us with critical disaster preparation advice for parents, grandparents and children who engage with Bronson’s story. It is found at the book’s end. In addition, both Julia and Pastor Rex play key roles along with others, in the audiobook version of Bronson’s story. Julia is Mayor Hannah and Bill is Garth Grizzly. We had a lot of fun recording the audiobook. Paperback, e-book and the audiobook versions of Bronson, all available in Amazon. 

When I read Bronson’s story to preschool children, I like to tell them we are all part of God’s humongous global people puzzle. No one is excluded. Everybody’s piece is critical. Everyone’s gifts are needed or else the puzzle is not complete. I urge all the children I meet to work with others to discover their special gifts and use them for the betterment of others around them. In turn, they will benefit from the gifts of others. Ideally, everyone contributes to the common good.

Perhaps Eli Weinrich, age 11, son of the Beaver Valley Campground owners Greg and Jennifer Weinrich, said it best when he told me what he thought after reading Bronson’s Flood, brilliantly illustrated by Dennis Packard. 

“I really like the way all the animals in the book worked together,” Eli told me. Amen.

Bronson ‘sponsors’

Sponsors L to R: Carole Rasmussen, Roger and Linda Williams, Jeannine Fallon Anckaitis, Julia Frank

Carole Rasmussen bought 39 copies for Preschool at Trinity Lansdale.

Roger and Linda Williams bought four books for children attending 10:45 a.m. “Sermon on the Steps” at Trinity, March 23, 2025.

Jeannine Fallon Anckaitis of Swarthmore bought 15 copies of Bronson for children in her youth networks. Jeannine is executive director at Youth Development United and Chester Upland Youth Soccer and claims the author as a mentor.

Julia Frank bought 10 books for her Lutheran Disaster Response network.

Thank you, sponsors!