By J.A. Jones, Contributor
ST. PETERSBURG – Gibbs High School grad author Ty Loyd-Calhoun was born in New Jersey and earned his undergrad degree from Tennessee State University – “the same place Wilma Rudolph and Oprah Winfrey graduated from,” he added with a hint of pride in a recent online interview.
After settling down, starting a family and having children, he said “soul searching” led him to develop The Merry Meerkats Go!! project, noting that his concern for “the future of our children” – and ultimately, the future of humankind in general — was a big part of his creative inspiration.
And of course, the first revelations came from observing his own children. “I noticed that my kids were kind of addicted to their screens and they weren’t being active, so, one day, I told them to go outside and play,” he explained.
They initially complained of the heat, and he had to convince them to just “go out there for 30 minutes or so.” It didn’t work.
“They came right back in and said, ‘Dad, there’s nothing to do outside.’” Loyd-Calhoun said it was at that moment that he realized maybe it was a dependence on screen technology that was stifling his children’s imagination. Not to be deterred, the author said he “went to Walmart and bought a bouncing ball, some chalk, and a jump rope.”
For the rest of the day, his family spent time playing games like four square, helicopter, double dutch, and ball tag. They all had fun – and, for Loyd-Calhoun, it was a revelation that kids just needed encouragement to have outside fun.
“I started researching the weaknesses of kids that didn’t go out much, and I began to understand why they struggled to communicate and do things like group problem solving, and deal with adversity and diversity,” he acknowledged.
Believing that children were becoming more and more addicted to their devices and badly needed adult encouragement to explore the outdoors and try new things, he put his mind to making a difference – and it became the inspiration for his series.
“I wrote the children’s book series to encourage kids to play outside, read, and unite through physical activity,” he shared, adding that the first book serves as an introduction to characters and their way of life, along with the game tag. Later books discuss topics including sharing, teasing, and why rules are important. “Each book adds a game or song for kids to use in real life.”
He chose the Kalahari Desert as the setting of the series since it’s the meerkats’ native dwelling, and feels that it’s “important to reach and teach children before the world or environment does.” Believing that even the small things can leave a big impact on one’s life, he hopes that The Merry Meerkats Go!! series “can be beneficial and bring merriment to children around the World!”
Digital projects include an audiobook, along with fun YouTube games that can be found on his channel, @AuthorTyLoydCalhoun. He’s also working on developing game apps, but added, “I made a pledge that if I ever used technology, it would have to get a kid to use their brain or be physically active in some way — and I think my games on YouTube do a good job at that.”
Currently, he has merchandise for sale on his website, including T-shirts with a variety of characters and slogans, a boomerang called the Kat-o-rang, a backpack, and more.
“I am hoping that when a child reads my series, they will get to learn a new outdoor activity and want to play the game in real life,” he noted – along with expanding their vocabulary and becoming more confident readers. He said his series also offers the perfect transitional books to lead young readers toward longer reading and chapter books.
“For parents, my books give them reassurance that their child is reading a wholesome and original series,” he added.
Loyd-Calhoun can be seen vending at upcoming events, including the Arts and Honey Festival on Feb 7 at Raymond H. Neri Community Park and The Collard Green Festival on the Deuces on Valentine’s Day.
He is also proud of the poetry book, Loyal T and Destiny, Letters to the World, written with his daughter, Destiny. Sensitive to the birth order of his children, he acknowledged, “I have three kids, and my oldest kind of gravitates towards me, and my youngest kind of gravitates towards his mother, so I felt like my middle child, my youngest daughter, was in limbo. I knew that I wanted to do something with her, but I didn’t know exactly what it should be.”
When Destiny read him a poem she had written and performed in school, he said, “it was called My Dream is, her first poem ever. I was just amazed by the way that she expressed herself. So, she was really the inspiration for the poetry book. It meant a lot to work with her on it…and it was fun for us to come together when writing it.”
You can learn more about Ty Loyd-Calhoun by visiting the website https://www.themmgo.com/, as well as following him on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/authortyloydcalhoun, on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTyLoydCalhoun, and on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/@AuthorTyLoydCalhoun