By: Maria Allard | C&G Newspapers | Published March 6, 2026
STERLING HEIGHTS — Students and staff at Black Elementary kicked off National Reading Month in March a bit early when they welcomed Darrin Brege and Karen Bell-Brege Feb. 27.
The husband-and-wife team, which has published several books, visits schools around the state to share their love of reading and encourage students to use their creativity to write their own stories. Black is part of the Warren Consolidated Schools district.
The writing duo has two book series that are page-turners with young audiences: the “Mick Morris Myth Solver” books and the “Ghost Board Posse” titles, among other publications. Bell-Brege writes about aliens, monsters, and Roswell, New Mexico, while her artist husband Brege illustrates all the book characters. Just watch out for Bigfoot, because you never know where he might be lurking.
Two assemblies were held at Black, one for the younger students and a second one for the older grade levels. Just about everybody raised their hands when Brege asked if they like to draw.
“That is awesome because I will teach you tricks today that will make drawing easier,” he said. “When you get to junior high and high school, you’re going to have to draw a lot in science and everything else. Plus, drawing is fun. When I draw, I always use a pencil with an eraser. The eraser is your best friend.”
Brege, who has a background in animation and worked on the Michael Jordan movie “Space Jam,” said one of the easiest pictures to draw is a stick figure.
“Every one of your favorite cartoons starts with a stick person,” Brege said. “This is where your ideas come out. You’re in control.”
After the stick person has been established, it’s time to add circle, triangle and square shapes to give the character its size, mass, a face and body parts. Brege demonstrated how to illustrate Homer Simpson and Mickey Mouse as examples. He said some characters take hours to complete and sometimes a picture might not work out. That’s where erasers come in handy.
“Draw, draw, draw, scribble, erase, keep the lines you want, erase the ones you don’t,” Brege advised. “Have fun with your art, but it’s a building process.”
The “Star Wars” fan also explained his role as the cover artist for the books Bell-Brege writes.
“The cover is the first thing you see. Your details are what is going to sell it,” he said. “It’s my job to get your attention when you’re at a bookstore, the media center or a library. The cool thing about being a cover artist is when you get to collaborate with the author.”
Bell-Brege admitted she wasn’t a good reader when she was a student. Her grades weren’t the best, either. So, she went to her teacher for help. She gave her a book to read, but after just reading one line, Bell-Brege closed it shut. Her teacher gave her a second book, but Bell-Brege couldn’t get through the first sentence.
“Here’s the secret about your teachers. If you don’t give up on yourself, they will not give up on you,” she said. “I went to her a third time. She gave me another book. I opened that book. I read the first line. I read the second line. I read the third, the fourth line and the first paragraph. Pretty soon I read the whole book. I loved it.”
Bell-Brege continued to read books her teacher suggested, and she eventually became “a good reader.” Since Bell-Brege likes to talk, she went to college to earn a degree in broadcasting. The Michigan native then left home and moved to Ocean City, Maryland, to work at a radio station. It was her chance to do all that talking on air she loved to do. But she was thrown a curveball one day when given an assignment to write a 30-second commercial about furniture.
“I thought, write a 30-second commercial. I’m here to talk,” she said. “I didn’t even have any furniture. But I wrote the best 30-second commercial I could.”
Bell-Brege penned the advertisement, heard it later on the radio and thought “it sounded pretty good.” Others thought so, too, and salespeople started asking her to compose their commercials.
“Pretty soon I was writing as much as I was talking on the radio,” she said. “Because I was a good reader I could write. Reading and writing goes together.”
Once Bell-Brege discovered she liked to write as much as read, she researched how to author children’s books. Another inspiration was her son Mick, now 30. She reminded the students that books need a beginning, a middle and an end; that stories aren’t complete without feelings, details and emotions; and that it’s OK to rewrite your story several times.
In their latest book, “Bigfoot, Birdie and Bob,” the creative team partnered with Northwoods Soda in an effort to support literacy in Michigan. The soda company released a new beverage to coincide with the new book called “Biggie the Bigfoot’s Butterscotch Cream.” A portion of sales will benefit the Michigan Reading Association to help support literacy in the state.
The pair have other talents as well. The couple is involved with improv comedy, can do impersonations of famous couples and does voiceovers. For more information about Darrin Brege and Karen Bell-Brege, go to karenanddarrin.com.