SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (WordNews.org) Jan. 24, 2021 — Travis Woronowicz and Titus Pannell met in 1990 as young kids and spent time drawing together on the front stoop of their apartment building in New Jersey.
Three decades later, the two entered a writing contest, won first place, and together created “Return to Eden,” a book that will resonate with young and “old” children alike. While the target audience is children from 10 to 14, Woronowicz said his hope is that the books will connect with teens and adults as well, like C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia,” books he grew up reading.
“I read ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ in sixth grade. I was 12 years old. I had no idea that Aslan represented Jesus,” Woronowicz said. “There was something in me that loved that lion, that wanted to follow Him. Later, realizing it was Jesus, my heart soared and I always wanted to write something that did the same thing to new readers.”
Woronowicz, an artist himself, wrote the book for personal reasons.
“Ever since Jesus called me to follow Him I have always worked with youth of some sort, as a youth pastor, teaching in Christian schools. I also have two kids, Sam, 7, and Anna, 4. I wanted to take some deep truths about the Bible and make them accessible to a younger generation,” Woronowicz said. “I didn’t learn the truths I put in this book until my 20s. How awesome it would have been to start grappling with them when I was younger!”
Pannell, the illustrator, said he had a specific goal in mind when tackling this project.
“I wanted to come up with realistic designs that fit the story while also trying to give the feel of the book a classic, stylistic touch,” he said. “I wanted the book’s drawings to look like the classic children’s books that I read growing up.”
Below is a Q&A with Woronowicz and Pannell:
Later that day the results came out: we won first place! Titus and I were elated and a few months later, we had our first copy in our hands. From inception to a published book, Jesus was faithful every step of the way to guide us to get this book out.
Woronowicz: “Return to Eden” is a story about a little girl named Aggie. Her mom leaves her when she is young and her little heart is broken. She goes to live with her aunt and uncle in the country, but they want nothing to do with her. She is outside one day and sees some animals walking to the edge of the woods. They look left, then right, and proceed to walk into the woods. Aggie is curious about this, follows the animals, and finds out they can talk. As she spends time with the animals, she grows to love them and they become a family to her. The leader of the animals, a golden retriever named Shiloh, explains to Aggie about the ways of Master (God) and how they are in a fight against the Snake King. Being with the animals helps Aggie begin to heal… but not without a fight. The book crescendos with Aggie being kidnapped by the Snake King and the animals fighting to get her back.
Woronowicz: We have a choice in this life who we are going to follow. We can either follow Master (God) who will free us from our greatest enemies (sin and death) and enable us to really live. Or we can follow the ways of the world (personified by the Snake King), becoming our own masters and choosing for ourselves what is right and wrong. One road may look better, but in the end it leads to death. The other road, although narrow, is the true way to life. Who are we going to follow, and as a result, who are we going to become?
Word News: Titus, how did you select which scenes to depict?Pannell: The scenes that Travis and I chose to depict was something that we carefully planned out together. I wanted to capture as much action and emotional feeling of the story as possible. So Travis and I went through the script together, figuring out what scenes could possibly work. After I made the mock-ups of the pictures, I ran them past Travis to get his final consent. There were also other drawings that were finished or in the process of being finished that we chose to omit from the book because they didn’t flow that well with the final product.
Woronowicz: My parents got divorced when I was 5 years old. We lived with my mom but would see my Dad three or four times a week. It was challenging living in two different homes with two different value systems. But in that tension and brokenness, I met Jesus. He started to heal the wounds in my heart and called me to be a pastor to others. I went to Bible college and seminary to prepare and Jesus has not only saved me but He continues to use every facet of my life as I give them to Him. I always loved stories and art; how awesome it has been to give these things to Him and watch what He can do through them!
Pallen: I’m a retired Marine, who has three degrees in science, theology and animation. I’m also a Krav Maga instructor. I’ve done art all of my life, and it was this passion of mine that connected Travis and I when we met as kids. We were friends growing up, and God used our friendship to bring us closer to Him. When we got older we decided to work together in the creative realm to bring powerful stories to children and adults so that it would point them towards Christ.
Pannell: What draw me to becoming friends with Travis when we were kids was his awesome God-given artistic abilities. I’ll never forget he drew the character of Pinky from the cartoon show ‘Pinky and the Brain,’ which feature two cartoon lab mice – and we were only kids at the time But I was so amazed because it looked like an adult drew the character. Since I was such a competitive person I spent three days drawing The Brain so he looked perfect. When I showed it to the other kids at school no one believed that I drew it, but I didn’t care because I knew what I’ve done. It was him motivating me inadvertently which pushed me to become a better artist and which made us friends.
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