About Books Make Booms Authors Richard and Mary Rensberry

Welcome to About Books Make Booms.

We are authors and illustrators, Richard and Mary Rensberry. 

We founded Books Make Booms as part of our publishing business called QuickTurtle Books®.  Mary and I make up the Books Make Booms team that is creating and bringing our custom book small business marketing solution to life.  

Mary is originally from Texas.  I grew up in Michigan, where we now reside.  We are avid believers in small businesses, strong family, community and the Constitution of the United States.  We love to write about and draw our inspiration from our Michigan business community and vibrant environment.  We have authored and published over 30 QuickTurtle Books®.  Our many titles include books about bees, grandma quilts, traits and virtues, kenaf, artists, lighthouses, and many others.

Besides our many children's books, I am also the author of City Slicker’s Guide to the Amish Country, a Michigan travel book; Wolfpack Moon and The Love Tree, which are both books of poetry.  My novel, Conversations With Sasquatch, Book 2, Cross Over is still being written in weekly installments for readers of this website.  Book 1 of Conversations With Sasquatch, The Encounter, is now available in paperback and eBook in our shopping cart and on Amazon.

Mary is the author of I Am a Spirit, The Best of Me from a to z, Good Thoughts Gathered Together, Fowl Art and more.

I have been writing poetry and stories since the age of twelve and created my first chapbook at the age of fourteen. 

Besides being a writer, illustrator and publisher at Books Make Booms, I am currently a freelance writer for Up North Voice, our good news Northeastern Michigan Newspaper, where my focus is on ability.  I like to showcase the entrepreneurial spirit of local people and businesses.

During my years spent in California, I received multiple awards as a fine artist as well as many community service awards in educating kids on the dangers of drugs.  Artistically, I participated in many gallery shows and found ways to use my artistic skills to raise money for drug prevention and education programs in local schools.  I am now using my artistic skills to write, illustrate and publish custom books to help small businesses grow and thrive through implementation of marketing strategy.

As an illustrator I have illustrated Big Ships and Keepers Of The Light.  I am currently at work illustrating books for The Michigan Brown Trout Festival and a concept we are developing to present to Cops and Donuts.

I am currently a featured author and artist at: http://www.michiganlighthouseguide.com/authors.html    

Writing with the purpose of helping businesses thrive fits me like a good pair of boots.  All of our books are designed to carry forward and impart the strong, moral and dynamic values, products, and services of small businesses and worthwhile causes.  This purpose is always forefront in our writing endeavors.  With Mary’s help and illustrations we have authored an abundance of custom books for our local communities and beyond.  With these books and many more to come, I carry forward my poetic bent, my sense of humor and constant belief in man's inherent goodness for helping others. 

Mary fills each book with her delightful and playful art to the benefit of small businesses and many readers of all ages.

Welcome to my about Books Make Booms autobiography.

Artist and Author at QuickTurtle Books® and Books Make Booms are my titles, although I like mom and grandma, too.

I was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1952 to the parents of Gerald Anthony Cox and Olga Mary Chapman. My family holds no claim to fame, other than Johnny Appleseed is supposedly in our lineage. I am oldest daughter of four offspring; I have a twin sister, and two younger brothers.

Receiving a Texas Teaching degree in Education in 1975 from Sam Houston State University helped to launch me into the classroom of an elementary school in South Texas where I taught Kindergarten through 2nd grade. I fell in love with the spirit of the child, their innocence and a keen interest in wanting to know about the world around them. They truly gave me so much more than I could give them. Teaching reading was my favorite subject along with recess. I enjoyed playing with the kids just as much as they enjoyed their breaks with me.  Recess taught us valuable lessons in social development, getting along with each other, and respecting our differences.

From there I went on to teach in other capacities and school settings--in parochial school, homeschool and charter school settings. My last teaching assignment after receiving my Master Degree In Education with a specialty in Instructional Technology was in high school on a huge ranch in the Texas Hill Country. These students taught me that it was important to stand up for yourself, to communicate and to enjoy life to the fullest. From each assignment in my professional teaching career, I grasped the meaning and preciousness of life, of respecting all children and their families, and of how diversity brings much more strength to the equation of life itself. I will always look back at this time in my life as one of service and one of devotedness to each child.

After growing up in the city of San Antonio for 16 years, country living appealed to me and I fell in love with nature and all its glory especially its sunsets. It is this fact alone why I decided to settle in the town of Fairview, Michigan, in 2016 along with my husband, Richard. It was pure country appeal.

Now I get a great deal of enjoyment from traveling, experiencing the world, and helping others along the way.  Much of my help is about Books Make Booms.  It has enhanced my devotion to the writing and illustrating of our custom books marketing strategy.  I love the process of illustrating my husband’s poetry and story writing.  The creative nature of adding splashes of color to enhance my husband's dance of rhythm and rhyme is challenging and exciting.  I look forward to sharing and reading our children’s books to school children of all ages.  I am honored by our growing parntnerships with many small businesses here in Michigan and other States.

Recent accomplishments in the field of writing and publishing children’s books has brought notoriety to my latest work entitled, The Best of Me from a-z! Traits and Virtues for Kids. This book won first place in the children’s division in the TCK Reader’s Choice Awards in 2018.

My passion is bringing color and vitality to a world that is so in need of beauty and grace.  My motto, often quoted, could very well be said to be-- “In seeking the Truth, we discover ourselves…in living the Truth, we define ourselves.”

Check out our Custom Books for small business marketing.