It’s always wonderful when we hear about a graduate success story. It’s even more amazing when a great achievement involves a VFS collaboration. Well, that’s exactly what has transpired with the creation of Auguste RoDent by two Digital Design alumni, Drea Morin and Kelsey Armour, and former VFS EBM instructor, Christine Baudry! Together, they are helping to discover new stories and characters that can be developed in interactive books, movies or video games.

Auguste RoDent, the Artist of Abundant Talent is the first tablet interactive book published by Sharing Books. Auguste is an artist mouse, living in Paris at the end of the 1800s, who sculpts masterpieces (that look strangely like Rodin’s masterpieces) in cheese. Auguste causes a scandal because he sculpts in imported cheese when France has more than 400 cheeses. Mr. Brie, the art critic, denounces Auguste and causes a scandal. Fortunately, a young writer, Bernice Elaine Louise Lorraine Eiffel (B.E.L.L.E) rescues his reputation and they live happily ever after.

The story has multiple layers appealing to children and adults alike. The universal theme of resisting self-promoting critics is a great lesson for all creative people. And the connection to masterpieces provides an opportunity to introduce art history to the book’s young readers. Auguste RoDent was written and illustrated by Vancouver artist, Niina Chebry, who spent two years refining her rhyming text and painting over forty canvasses as illustrations. The artwork is simply fabulous, introducing a fresh look in a sea of interactive eBooks which are starting to look alike.

Sharing Books is a forum through which children’s books creators can be published rapidly, for free, giving them a chance to be discovered. It also enables young readers around the world to experience the joy of reading through engaging, interactive experiences. And, if that wasn’t enough, Sharing Books supports the literacy mission by giving Room to Read one-third of the profits to support their literacy and education gender equality missions! This first interactive book was made possible by a grant from the Experimental Media Fund (2010 Legacy) managed by BC Film and the BC Arts Council.

Auguste RoDent innovates in a myriad of ways. In portrait mode, the book offers its interactive features. In landscape mode, the book becomes a page turning book providing a traditional reading experience. Multiple touch-triggered interactive features reward exploring little fingers with a character response or a digital addition to the book’s art gallery. As art masterpieces are discovered, a digital representation is added to an art gallery where children can learn more about each art piece.

Pierre Lapointe, Sharing Books Co-founder and Executive Producer of Auguste RoDent, expressed that the VFS connection is important, “First, we are proud of the contribution of VFS to our industry. We were fortunate to get connected with former EBM instructor, Christine Baudry, who connected us with two outstanding Digital Design graduates, both nominated for Adobe Achievement Design Awards (both for interactive books projects). Drea Morin, our Creative Designer, is a talented and energetic artist who brought the story to life through amazing UI design. And Kelsey Armour, our Technical Designer, is an innovative visual communicator, who made it a reality.”

So what’s next for this phenomenal team? Sharing Books is increasing its capacity to transform the best books submitted by their creators into broader transmedia applications. Their next project is a book entitled, The Island Child, by Oklahoma storyteller, Loralee Cooley, and illustrated by Canadian, Jillian Hulme Gilliland. This is a non-partisan story of Barack Obama’s first ten years. The universal value of the story is of a child who has a disrupted childhood, who proved despite this that one can become anything he/she wants to be. The book will explore silhouette design for an interactive tablet book. They are currently raising a small supplementary budget via crowd-funding at IndieGoGo.