Local author created the picture book series Parmesan Pig on a trip with family

Cooking up a series of delicious characters

GLENMONT – While on a family trip, local author Ben Barrowman found the right “ingredients” for a children’s book series featuring an array of lovable (and delicious) characters.

“Initially, I wanted to write a story about the difference between being good, being kind and being friendly,” Barrowman said.

He said the idea evolved during a beach trip in 2018, when his five-year-old daughter Jane, who owned a stuffed animal which she named Parmesan Pig, and his six-year-old son Connor saw a crab which they called Coconut Crab. That day, the family continued coming up with food-animal hybrids, such as Watermelon Whale, Lemon Lion, Raspberry Rhino, and Strawberry Snail. Inspired by these characters, Barrowman wrote a story about them over the next three days and nights. This story is now the fifth installment of the series.

This became Parmesan Pig, which teaches about social-emotional learning via a world of characters who are both animal and food.

There are currently four books out in the Parmesan Pig series, with one more to be published later this year. In the first book, Parmesan Pig helps her friends to find the right “ingredients” for happiness. The second installment, Parmesan Pig: Saw What Was Needed, sees Parmesan Pig learning the difference between a want and a need through a trip to a restaurant and a new friendship. And in Parmesan Pig: Small, Big, and Beyond, the titular character gains some perspective on what big and small really mean.

Over the course of 2019 and 2020, Barrowman created a series of stories which he told to his children. By the end of 2020, encouraged by the positive feedback from those he had shared them with, Barrowman began to consider turning these stories into published books. Each step of the way, Parmesan Pig is supportive and understanding of her friends, as she both offers new points of view and learns from the perspectives of others.

Each of the books builds on the ones before it, as characters from each installment appear in the background of subsequent ones, while new characters expand the series’ universe. The final book of the series will add six new names to the roster, and will have all 32 characters appearing at some point or another.

The books are written in rhyming verse, an intentional choice on Barrowman’s part to lend the books a more rhythmic, musical flow.

“I wanted kids to be able to see fun characters, to hear fun names, and to like the cadence and pick up on the messages,” Barrowman said.

After struggling to find a publisher, Barrowman eventually decided to self-publish the series. “Being that these are self-published, I had a lot of creative control, and was able to work with the illustrator on every page,” Barrowman said. He connected with the illustrator of the Parmesan Pig series, Alexis Eastburn, through Palmetto Publishing. Beginning with the fourth book of the series, Barrowman will be using Troy Book Makers, a local self-publishing company.

The fourth book, Parmesan Pig: Is That a Fact?, where Parmesan Pig explores the difference between facts and opinions with her friend Barbecue Bear, will be published next month.

For the fifth and final book, Parmesan Pig: Always All Three, which has yet to be released, Barrowman explains, “I wanted the fifth book to explore the difference between good, kind, and friendly, good being intentions and actions, kind being words that are spoken, and friendly being how they’re spoken.” Always All Three will be published later this year.

Barrowman also altered the original order of the stories, and chose to begin the series with the story about finding happiness. Each of the books was written and illustrated before the first was published.

“Everything in these books is intentional,” Barrowman said.

Initially, Barrowman wasn’t sure whether the books, which he had previously only shared with a small circle of people, would be popular with a wider audience. But after creating a few copies and reading the books to his kids’ classrooms, he was encouraged by the reaction of the students, who loved the characters and wanted to learn more about them.

I Love Books was the first bookstore to sell Parmesan Pig, in the section for local authors. They sold out several times, and he had to provide more copies. As Barrowman traveled across the country for his work with veterans, he brought copies of his books with him, and would stop by local bookstores and libraries to ask if they wanted any copies.

Barrowman has especially enjoyed the school author visits, where he talks to the students about how he created the books, discusses the social-emotional themes the books explore, and reads the stories to them. He then encourages the students to create their own character by coming up with a name for their own food-animal hybrid and drawing it.

Barrowman is an associate with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Service Members, Veterans, and their Families’ Technical Assistance Center. As is explained on his series’ website, parmesanpig.com, Barrowman “works with Veteran organizations across the country, behavior health specialists, and suicide prevention coordinators, to address the behavioral health needs of military and Veteran families.” For the past six years, he has been working in the field of suicide prevention for veterans, including how to intervene as early as possible.

With the Parmesan Pig series, Barrowman’s goal is “not to talk about mental health as a stigma, but to address social-emotional themes and mental health to have discussions around those themes.”

“I wanted to plant the seeds of mental health and wellness early in children’s lives,” Barrowman said, “so later when they’re teenagers or adults, they have one more skill they can draw on to help them through challenging times.” He hopes that the exploration of mental health and support in Parmesan Pig will help to destigmatize, and encourage kids to reach out and ask for help when needed, whether for themself or for a friend.

Over 3000 copies of Barrowman’s books have been sold, largely via word-of-mouth and local promotion. In 2023, the first book in the series received the Purple Dragonfly Award, which recognizes children’s books worldwide that are “original, innovative, and creative in content and design.”

He has appeared on Albany’s ABC10 on “The Upside”, a show featuring local success stores. On February 15th of this year, Coxsackie Elementary School performed a musical with a Parmesan Pig theme.

Barrowman has been pleasantly surprised by the books’ positive reception, which he attributes to the fun character names, colorful illustrations, rhythmic flow, and the innovative way it explores themes of mental health. He has been pleasantly surprised in particular by the response the books have garnered from parents and teachers.

Barrowman has had parents contact him, telling him how they were touched by the books’ heartfelt moments, such as the letter to Taco Turtle in the first book or Parmesan Pig’s friendship with Guacamole Goose in the second installment. Though he originally created the books with his children in mind, he also “wanted the books to be read in a way that the adult enjoys the story.”

Barrowman lives in Glenmont with his wife, Lauren, and his two children, Connor and Jane.

“I want Parmesan Pig to inspire helpers,” Barrowman said when discussing the importance of portraying these supportive relationships. He stressed the importance of social-emotional themes and morals, which are especially present in the first and planned last book of the series. “All of the books are about becoming a better person,” he said.

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