From the 8/9 Scotland Dumbarton Reporter: “Teen Inspired Loch Monster Adventure”

That was reporter Robert Moore’s headline. His story was about an “American teenager who was the inspiration for the children’s book “The Loch Lomond Monster”, about a monster who lurks in the depths of Loch Lomond, visited the Bonnie Banks last week.”

Author David Russell took inspiration for his Loch Lomond story when his then 3-year-old granddaughter, Rebecca, said she wanted Loch Lomond to have a monster like the one in Loch Ness.14 years later, Russell teamed with long-time friend, illustrator Frank Furlong, to publish “The Loch Lomond Monster”, a Children’s Story-Book about ‘Lommie’ and his Loch friends.

Last Saturday pretty Rebecca Smith now 17, who in the story helps save her friend Lommie, ventured to water’s edge to see if she could catch a glimpse of her old Lochfriend. We turned that visit into a inspired photo shoot during which Rebecca told us she comes back every year, because she loves the area. “It’s amazing and it gets better and better. The people here are so friendly compared to people in the big city where I live.”

This year, Rebecca is heading into her Senior High School year, after which she hopes to attend either Glasgow’s Strathclyde University or a University in the States, to study Early Childhood Development. Her Scotland half-brother said that Strathclyde had a excellent program that matched her interest and she was checking into it.

Rebecca also said, “In the story I’m ‘Becky’ and the other character Aaron, is really my cousin. When I was little, I always loved when my grandfather read the story to me, long before it was published or even had pictures.”.

When the picture story-book was released in the US, David enlisted his neighbor who happened to be headed for Scotland, to ferry over copies which are now in the Balloch Library. Rebecca said “I want to go see them on the library shelf.”

In his publisher’s Press Release, author Russell is quoted as saying: “From birth Rebecca lived 8 miles from the Loch.When she was about 3, I showed her a picture of the Loch Ness Monster. Her immediate come-back was, ‘Grandpa, why can’t we have a monster, too?”. Coincidentally about that same time, his other grandchild, Rebecca’s cousin, Aaron, had dubbed himself Sir Aaron and dressed himself in faux armor while wielding a golden sword. Toss all that into a word processor and what came out was the fast paced story, whimsically illustrated by the deft hand of Frank Furlong.”

Copies of “The Loch Lomond Monster” are available at the Balloch Library or can be purchased at Amazon and Barnes & Noble E-Books, Apple “IBooks” or at the web site www.booksbyallmeans.com.