By Ken Lamug

Growing up in Quezon City, Philippines, I dreamed that I would be an archaeologist.

I remember looking through hand-me-down copies of the Britannica Encyclopedia (which was missing a few volumes) and old prints of National Geographics. Opening the double-spread map of an ancient Mayan city was a marvel. The hieroglyphs and photos of artifacts were mesmerizing. I would take notes and redraw them. I even walked around the neighborhood collecting rocks, which I swore had mysterious symbols from an ancient civilization. I had put them on the shelf of my growing and ever so dusty collection.

My imagination led me to illustrate comic strips from scraps of paper. I drew my fantastical adventures to ancient Egypt, meeting robots and Greek gods. Then I had a new dream. I wanted to be a cartoonist. I collected Sunday comic strips and even borrowed comic books from friends.

My parents were not very keen on the idea, even to the point where my mom grabbed stacks of my drawings and burned them. I cried. But maybe they just wanted what is best… maybe they did not want me to be a “starving artist.”

It was not long until our entire family moved to America, over 8,000 miles away. It was not an easy process, but the dream of a better life was something that my parents wanted for us. We ended up in a motel in Las Vegas until we moved to a small apartment. Being the oldest child, I took on a job and helped the family.

I was eventually lucky enough to work in the computer industry; it was new, exciting, and kept my curiosity alive. There was something new to learn every day, and I was doing a different kind of thinking – creativity in programming, and problem-solving.

At this point, I did not dream so much anymore. Instead, when I wanted to do something, I went for it. Being in America afforded me these benefits…but it was always a combination of hard work, persistence, and luck. Show up, do the work, and go above and beyond when possible.

Making new friends led me to a significant milestone in my life, which was working on independent movies. It mixed the technical aspects that I enjoyed, and it brought back creative fire to tell stories. I did not put much thought into it, but I guess in the back of my head I still wanted to share stories through art and pictures.

I soon picked up a pen and paper and started to draw. It brought back childhood memories, ideas, and new possibilities. One of those ideas was the retelling of a story from my home country. And that’s when Petro and the Flea King was born. It is a re-imagining of a Filipino folktale about a curious and wily boy, who goes through the rite of passage, taking on responsibilities and moving from childhood to adulthood.

Creating Petro was a joy. The wordless graphic novel unfolds with every picture and every scene. It is a book that almost anyone could pick up and read. I loved working on the details and creating Petro’s world, with inspirations from my homeland and my childhood.

An artist’s creation is a culmination of one’s life experiences and worldview. And I hope that with Petro, I could inspire that next child to be curious and follow their dreams no matter what obstacle may arise.

Ken at the Las Vegas Book Festival showing off his winning library card design.

Even today, as I work on my new books, I still look back at Petro, and I know that when the time is right, I will tell another Petro story.

Because just like me, Petro’s adventure has just begun. And who knows, I might just be an archaeologist once more.

Ken Lamug is a Las Vegas-based author and illustrator of children’s picture books and graphic novels. His upcoming books include The Whole Hole Story (January 2021) and the middle-grade graphic novel Mischief & Mayhem (Summer of 2021). You find out more at his website.

Ken Lamug’s graphic novel, Petro and the Flea King, is the Nevada selection for the 2020 Library of Congress’ National Book Festival, which is happening online September 25-27, 2020. To learn more about Ken’s work and his participation at the National Book Festival, click HERE. You can also tune into a live Q & A session with Ken Lamug on September 26, 2020, at 1 pm PST. Register HERE to join in this virtual event.

Images courtesy of Ken Lamug.

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The Eight-Thousand-Mile Dream