Adam Maynard, a Public Safety officer at NMU, has recently published a children’s book called “The Adventures of Dynamo Dog and the Case of the Missing Jewelery.”

The book is about Dynamo Dog, a detective dog modeled on the dogs used by police departments, who must go on an adventure to recover stolen jewelry from a thief. Maynard wrote the book in 1993 when he was in the fifth grade as part of the Marquette-Alger Young Authors program.

Maynard said he has always had pet dogs, so he chose a dog for the main character of his book. He couldn’t remember why he picked the name “Dynamo Dog,” but he knew that he wanted to write about a police dog as a child because he always wanted to be a police officer.

“(Dynamo Dog) just kind of sounded right,” he said.

Maynard rediscovered the manuscript last year and started the publication process with the encouragement of his wife and children.

“I really didn’t change anything,” Maynard said. “I wanted it to still sound like a kid wrote it.”

Maynard started the publication process in February of this year by searching for publishers on the internet. He chose to use AuthorHouse, a publishing company based in Bloomington, Ind. AuthorHouse offers publishing consultants to authors to help with the self-publishing process, which gave Maynard control of most of the publishing process. However, Maynard had his original illustrations professionally redrawn for the book’s release.

“It was really nice to see my pictures in a three-dimensional and more colorful form,” Maynard said.

Maynard finished publishing “The Adventures of Dynamo Dog” in September. He says the reaction from his family has been positive.

“My kid loves it,” Maynard said. “I read it to him every night.”

Maynard is trying to get the book publicized in the area to boost its popularity. He said that depending on the performance of this book, he may write more.

“I’ve got a couple more [books] in line,” Maynard said.

In addition to more children’s books, he wants to write a novel someday.

Since the book’s publication, Maynard has been making appearances around Marquette to promote the book. Maynard appeared at the Head Start preschool in the Jacobetti Center last week to give a presentation about Halloween safety and read from the book. Joy Swanson, a supervisor for the preschool, said she enjoyed Maynard’s reading.

“I thought it was really cute,” Swanson said.

She said using animals for the main characters was a nice touch.

“Children love that,” she said.

Maynard said he also enjoyed reading the book to the kids.

“Once more books get out there, I’d like to have a book signing,” Maynard said.

For Maynard, his public appearances do more than just promote his book. He also appreciates the opportunity to get a police officer in the classroom to talk to kids.

Maynard said that children mostly come into contact with police officers when something bad happens, and that gives kids a negative view of cops. Maynard wants to be a positive representative of police to children, and “The Adventures of Dynamo Dog” gives him the opportunity to both talk to kids and promote his book.

The book, which was published two months ago, is available at the NMU bookstore, Snowbound Books in Marquette, and online.