{"id":84267,"date":"2025-09-25T06:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T06:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/84267\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T06:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T06:15:09","slug":"scott-sparlin-shares-jack-bunyan-tale-at-nu-library-news-sports-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/84267\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Sparlin shares \u2018Jack Bunyan\u2019 tale at NU library | News, Sports, Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nancy Beck, who purchased a signed copy of the book, stands with author Scott Sparlin following his presentation at the New Ulm Public Library.<\/p>\n

NEW ULM \u2013 New Ulm author Scott Sparlin presented his debut children\u2019s book \u201cThe Legend of Jack Bunyan\u201d Monday at the New Ulm Public Library. <\/p>\n

The event featured a reading, book signing and original music.<\/p>\n

Sparlin, a Christmas tree farmer and musician, introduced Jack Bunyan as \u201cthe adopted son of Paul Bunyan, carried in by the crows and nurtured on the milk of Bluebell, the daughter of Babe the Blue Ox.\u201d <\/p>\n

The story follows Jack\u2019s life in a Minnesota logging camp alongside his companion Bucky Blue, a six-foot-tall beaver with red eyes and sharp teeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack was so good with his ax, but he could never beat Bucky at taking down a tree,\u201d Sparlin said. After Jack\u2019s motorized bicycle got stuck on a tree that Bucky just felled, he invented the chainsaw\u2013modifying the bike to match his friend\u2019s speed and precision.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Scott Sparlin reads from The Legend of Jack Bunyan during his New Ulm Public Library presentation, sharing stories and illustrations from his debut children\u2019s book.<\/p>\n

Sparlin said the idea for the book had been developing for years and took shape during the COVID-19 pandemic, when live performance opportunities were limited. <\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t sing and play for a year and a half, so I took the time to take this idea under my wing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nancy Beck, a New Ulm resident, purchased a copy and commented on Sparlin\u2019s approach. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the creativity is absolutely wonderful. And I think it can inspire young people to be creative,\u201d Beck said.<\/p>\n

The book is illustrated by Sparlin\u2019s sister, Gail. The initial 500-copy print run sold out, and a second printing is underway. An audiobook version narrated by fellow musician Lee Weber includes spoken word and original music.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bucky Beaver, a 6-foot-tall sidekick to Jack Bunyan, appears in a drawing illustrated by Gail E. Sparlin, sister of Scott Sparlin.\n<\/p>\n

Sparlin concluded the program with two original songs\u2013\u201cJack Bunyan\u201d and \u201cBucky Blue.\u201d He also noted that a second book is in progress, titled \u201cBucky Blue\u2019s Big Adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Legend of Jack Bunyan\u201d is available at jackbunyan.com.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Scott Sparlin speaks about his new book during a presentation at the New Ulm Public Library.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jack Bunyan shows off his new invention, the chainsaw, in a drawing from the imagination of Scott Sparlin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nancy Beck, who purchased a signed copy of the book, stands with author Scott Sparlin following his presentation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[359,18,117,19,17,3136,55903,55902],"class_list":{"0":"post-84267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-scott-sparlin-shares-jack-bunyan-tale-at-nu-library","15":"tag-scott-sparlin-shares-jack-bunyan-tale-at-nu-librarynew-ulm"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}