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The father and son combined writing talents and artistry
to produce a zippy story about a boy who exercises, plays
and eats healthy food to stay fit.

“I’m bouncing, I’m hanging, I’m twisting, I’m turning. I’m
swinging, I’m singing, the calories are burning,” wrote dad
Richard Harris, a North End and Middle Plantation resident.

The book, for children 8 to 12, is “an effort to raise the
level of awareness among young people so they can
choose the path to becoming healthier adults,” he said.

It’s an issue close to his heart. Nearly 40 years ago,
Richard Harris graduated from Old Dominion University
with a degree in physical education. His passion has
always been staying fit: He has had the same exercise
routine since the 1970s and is committed to biking and
lifting weights.

The financial planner even earned an certified health and
fitness instructor designation from the American College of
Sports Medicine in 2003. One of the professors at a
workshop he attended was David Swain, an exercise
physiologist at Old Dominion University.

Swain said there’s “alarming growth” of obesity in
America’s childhood population and that there’s a need for awareness about fitness.

Richard Harris taps into the problem by addressing it in his
children’s book, Swain said.

Harris and his son, who is an Old Dominion University
graduate with a degree in art animation, collaborated on
the book long-distance because Craig lives in California.

Craig sketched the characters in “I’m Walking,
I’m Running, I’m Jumping, I’m Hopping…” and then painted
them with watercolors. In the book, girls and boys wear
white T-shirts, blue pants or skirts and red shoes, and
they jump rope, play basketball and skateboard.

On one illustrated page, a boy has a choice – eat a candy
bar or a carrot.

“One part of staying healthy is proper nutrition: Eating
good food builds your physical condition,” Richard Harris
wrote on the opposite page.

Son Craig, 28, said he was thinking more about comic
books and cartoon characters from the 1950s when he
set out to draw pictures that would fit his father’s words.
“ Dennis The Menace,” was one such character that came
to mind.

“All I did was give him the writing, and he interpreted it
the way he wanted to,” said Richard Harris.

Craig Harris said his dad’s words remind him of the
legendary Dr. Seuss.

“Dr. Harris,” joked his son. When he tells his friends
about the book, Craig Harris said he tells them, “It’s
written like Dr. Seuss, maybe better.”

The hardcover book is available through him at a
discounted price and will soon be for sale at area
bookstores for $16.95.

“I’m Walking, I’m Running, I’m Jumping, I’m Hopping…”
is Richard Harris’ third book. He published “Who Taught
You About Money?” his first book, in 1994. Charlotte
Marriott, a local artist, illustrated it.

In 2001, the father and son collaborated on “If I Had a
Penny…,” in which young characters make decisions about
what they could do with one cent, a dime, a dollar.

Richard Harris’ catchy rhymes, designed for first and
second-graders, were lessons about currency.

Richard Harris, a former schoolteacher, has been writing
rhyming poems and songs since he was in ninth grade,
he said. It’s a talent that he can’t shake and doesn’t want
to especially when comes to writing informative children’s
book.

“I think kids learn a lot more if they have fun doing it,” he
said.

• “I’m Walking, I’m Running, I’m Jumping, I’m Hopping…”
is available at www.encouragekids.com.

• Reach Beacon correspondent Stacy Parker at
stacyparker@cox.net.