Jon Dunbar is a copy editor at The Korea Times, as well as editor of the Foreign Community page and curator of the Korea Times Archive. If you have suggestions for possible articles, or wish to contribute articles yourself, contact jdunbar@koreatimes.co.kr.
'Molly Makes a Mess' offers Frankenstein tale for children
Postcards showcase the art for "Molly Makes a Mess" by Daniel Daugherty. Courtesy of Daniel Daugherty
By Jon Dunbar
Daniel Daugherty has created a monster. His first children's book, "Molly Makes a Mess" tells the tale of Molly, a girl who is brash, brainy and messy. She attempts to deal with her messy bedroom by creating her own monster. And this tale goes disastrously wrong, all told in rhyming quatrains.
"This book is a Frankenstein story for kids," Daugherty, an American resident of Jeju Island, told The Korea Times. "It's about creating a 'monster' with the best of intentions in mind. It's about solving a problem that didn't really exist in the first place and, in so doing, causing a new set of problems. Did I mention it's just a silly rhyming poem? It's just a silly rhyming poem."
Molly's age is left ambiguous, although the author said the book is aimed at second and third grade English speakers who aren't afraid of encountering new vocabulary.
Daugherty self-published the book after running a successful crowdfunding campaign last year. The book is available for purchase online.
The cover of "Molly Makes a Mess" by Daniel Daugherty / Courtesy of Daniel Daugherty
The book's titular character, Molly is a formidable figure — despite her laziness — and the kind of person who would invent a robot to clean up a mess rather than handle it herself. Her character resembles a female Dexter from the animated series "Dexter's Laboratory," although Daugherty said the biggest inspiration for her personality was Calvin from "Calvin and Hobbes." Yet he also had another name to drop: Elon Musk.
"These [artificial intelligence, or AI] tech bros and their enablers are really a lot like Calvin — he's a 6-year-old with an ego bigger than his brain," Daugherty said. "Elon Musk's promises for the self-driving future remind me of Calvin's book report about bats: half-assed research and completely incorrect about fundamental things — if not willfully fraudulent — but all delivered with complete confidence. Unlike Elon Musk, Calvin is ultimately lovable and relatable, and I hope readers feel the same about Molly."
At the risk of triggering cries of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, he decided to make his little genius character a girl, largely because of a lack of strong female characters of this kind.
"I wanted to see a girl with Calvin's brash personality and dogged determination," he said. "I think that's empowering for girls to see, and aside from Louise on 'Bob's Burgers,' I am hard-pressed to think of female characters with that kind of energy."
He also wanted to help encourage young girls to take an interest in STEM.
"My story makes the point that regardless of how many men or women are in STEM, they're all going to help create the ongoing dystopia of modern life if they bring that kind of attitude," he said. "And yes, I realize that I'm putting a lot of import into this silly little 29-page rhyming poem for kids. But I say this a lot: Kids deserve high-quality content that respects their sense of taste."
The story was conceived in the late 2010s when Daugherty followed his now-wife to Albania, where she had accepted a teaching job.
"I moved there with her and she told me she would support me if I worked on my novel," he said.
He came up with the idea for the story while listening to a podcast about Google's AlphaGo AI that mastered "baduk."
"It learned on the fly by making a million mistakes. They just set it loose to fail until it succeeded," he said. "I then saw some videos of an AI learning how to optimally play Mario Kart or some similar game. It was hilarious to watch. It literally tried every possibility except staying on the track, until it finally decided that would be a better strategy toward its goal. It's funny when it's virtual race cars, but it's also creepily inhuman. It doesn't know what a race track is, nor why it's in a race at all. Around the same time, we were getting lots of hype for automated cars and something in me clicked. Like, what if we just let AI-controlled robots and devices run loose in our real world until they figured it out? How much death and destruction would it cause?"
Once he had the basic story beats, he spent an espresso-fueled month writing out the story on the roof of a little cafe in Tirana, Albania's capital.
"It was a real joy to work out the puzzle of hitting all the story beats with rhythms and rhymes," he said.
By that time, he had about seven years of experience working with kids in Korea. After Albania, he and his wife moved to China, where they stayed until 2022 before returning to Korea. Once back in Korea, he started working on the story again.
Daniel Daugherty holds up a copy of his book, "Molly Makes a Mess." Courtesy of Daniel Daugherty
"At some point, I realized that it's easier to pitch a finished product, especially one with a successful Kickstarter campaign," he said. "The problem was that I needed an artist and I didn't have the money to hire one."
Finally, he found the right artist to work with through the gig economy website Fiverr. He brought in Bachan to do the illustrations, as well as character designs.
"I searched through hundreds of profiles until I spotted his portfolio. I knew immediately he could do something like I had in mind. I think I chose the right guy for the project," Daugherty said. "Unfortunately, I don't know much more than his bio on Fiverr. I know he works mainly in advertising and I got the feeling that he's well established in his native Mexico. In any case, I'm lucky I found him!"
As for what's next, Daugherty says this might be a standalone story. "I had an idea I wanted to communicate and Molly was the vessel for it. I'm not sure she'd be right for the other stories I want to tell. That said, if there's an agent who sees more to this, I'll hear 'em out!" he said.
"I dream that this silly rhyming poem might be made into an animated short or something. I'd love to see it brought to life in that way. But I'm also keen to get going on my next writing project, which will be completely different from this."
"Molly Makes a Mess" is available for sale through Amazon and IngramSpark. Visit fb.com/MollyMakesaMess for more information.