Campfire Stu & The Backwoods Jamboree is the first in a series of children's picture books featuring Stu, a musical young boy whose love of music and adventure overcomes his mother's expectations of daily chores. Stu's longing for adventure and musical camaraderie is the catalyst for his walkabout, a journey where he hits the road to meet new friends and explore the world within the backdrop of American Folk Music. Stu finds himself in the throws of different predicaments and moral dilemmas, helping his new friends make better decisions for themselves while discovering a shared love for music. Stu's song unfolds with the story, each character adding their own musical instrument and experience, building on the tune and ending with a huge backwoods jamboree in which everybody sings the "Walkabout Song."
Author / Mike Struwin
First time author, long time musician, Mike Struwin has finally found a way to meld his passion for music, story-telling and education with Campfire Stu.
As a school-based Speech-Language Pathologist, Mike works with children everyday on their individual academic goals and has made it his personal mission to foster growth in language and literacy through the shared experience of reading among children and their families. Combining his life long love of music with his background in education, Struwin hopes to ignite children's love of reading by bringing Campfire Stu stories to life through song and live performance.
Mike lives in Stevensville, Michigan with his wife Amy, their two children John and Teagan and their dog Baron.
Illustrator / Eric Kravako
Eric Kravako is an art teacher in Detroit, MI whose mission is to inspire artistic expression and interpretation to audiences young and old alike. Kravako's paintings and abstract imagery conjure up conversations and provoke a changing of perspective, which certainly is reflected in the vibrant colors, whimsical woodland characters and engaging depictions of nature that are found in Campfire Stu & The Backwoods Jamboree. Guided by the original black and white illustration designs of Arizona based artist Mychael Lee, Kravako re-created the “Backwoods Jamboree” drawings in his renovated mobile bus studio (Okavark Studios) which was featured at the world renowned Grand Rapids, MI based art competition, ArtPrize (2013 through 2016) and will be participating in this year’s 2021 Art Prize! Along with providing inspiration for his own work, the Okavark Bus is used as a vehicle for creativity and muse, offering tours and mini-lessons to children around the country. Kravako and his bus are available for special events, socials and concerts. In addition to teaching and painting, Kravako works with his brothers at OKAVARK Pendants (original handcrafted nature inspired pendants) which are absolutely breathtaking and shipped around the world. Learn more about Eric Kravako, OKAVARK Studios and OKAVARK Pendants by visiting his website: