When Greg Ziegelbauer moved five miles off the highway and deep into the national forest, he thought he was settling into a quiet retirement.
He and his wife had fallen in love with the North Shore after several visits, drawn in by the trees, the rocks, the wildflowers, and the long winters that reminded him of his years living on Mount Hood.
“It is beautiful. It is like living in a snow globe,” he said.
He had planned on a simple life in retirement. A wood stove from 1904 heats the home. There is no television signal. Most days are spent cutting firewood, clearing snow, tending the solar panels, and keeping the off-grid systems running. He jokes that he was born 150 years too late.
But retirement did not stick.
On the first day of the year, Ziegelbauer woke up with a thought that surprised even him.
“I woke up New Year’s morning going, I am writing a children’s book today. That sounds like fun. I am going to try and do that by the weekend,” he said.
By the end of that weekend, he had three books published on Amazon. Six weeks later, he had twelve. Today, he is finishing book fourteen.
For someone who describes himself as extremely dyslexic and who spent most of his life afraid of books, the shift has been dramatic.
“I have a huge fear of reading, a huge fear of books,” he said. “I wanted to write a book or write books that my grandkids could enjoy. Something that would make them want to read, make it enjoyable for them to read so that they did not end up hating books later in life.”
His books are simple, bright, and built for learning: shapes, colors, heavy equipment, trains, puzzles, matching, and high-contrast visuals for infants. He writes with his grandchildren in mind, but he writes for any child who might pick up a book and discover something new.
“One simple book can be used for so many things,” he said. “Here is a star. This star is yellow. What color is this square? This square is blue. How many points are on the star versus how many points are on a square? The more they learn, the more they intake, the more they will be able to do later in life.”
The response from his family came quickly.
His granddaughter in Rockford points at the cover of one of his shape books and then at her puzzle pieces, naming each one. His grandson in California carries the ABCs of Trains book everywhere he goes.
And one morning, a baby monitor caught a moment that stopped Ziegelbauer in his tracks.
“They have company at their house, so their son, who is two, is staying on the bottom bunk in his sister’s room,” he said. “The baby monitor caught them at five in the morning when she crawled out of bed, went downstairs, grabbed the ABC trains book, came back up to her bedroom, invited her brother up into the top bunk, and at five thirty in the morning, she is reading this book to her brother while everybody else is asleep. That is awesome. Those are the moments where it was totally worth it.”
As his catalog grew, Ziegelbauer began thinking about how to share the books beyond his own family.
He and his wife adore the smalltown feel of the North Shore, and he wanted to give something back to the communities that welcomed them.
Silver Bay and Two Harbors Public Libraries now have nine of his paperback titles on their shelves, donated by the author himself.
“To be able to give back to the community, something that I know my grandkids are loving, means some other kid somewhere else is going to love it,” he said. “It is my way of being able to pay it back to the community that I love being in.”
But the book he is most excited to share belongs unmistakably to the North Shore: the first in his new Rocky Taconite adventure series.
Rocky Taconite, the steel mascot who stands guard over Silver Bay, caught Ziegelbauer’s imagination the first time he drove past. A friend suggested he write a book about him, and he went home that day and started typing.
“Sure, Rocky is this steel statue sitting out on the side of the road, but what if this were possible? What if this was really who Rocky is and we do not know about it? What would that be like?” he said.
The result is a two-part adventure story that brings Rocky to life for young readers. The first book is already printed and will be delivered to the Silver Bay Library and the Historical Society next week. Three more two-part Rocky adventures are already outlined, waiting for community feedback before he writes the next installments.
Ziegelbauer sees Rocky Taconite as more than a character. He sees the stories as a way to connect kids to their town and to draw visitors deeper into the community.
“Come summertime, the people that come to town and Rocky is a big deal, that is going to draw people into that part as well,” he said. “It brings them back the following season of, is there a new Rocky book out? What is the new adventure Rocky is doing now?”
For Ziegelbauer, that connection matters. A child picks up a book about Rocky. The family visits the statue. They return to the library. They return to town.
“That helps strengthen the community in a tiny little way,” he said. “One more family, one more child that these books can have a positive influence on.”
The Rocky Taconite book is only the beginning. Ziegelbauer already has plans for more children’s books, puzzle books, learning series, and even a set of off-grid living guides for adults. He writes early in the morning while tending the wood stove or watching the snow fall outside.
“It becomes an addiction of what is the next book I can write,” he said. “I like doing it, so I am just going to keep going.”
He never expected to become an author. He never expected to publish fourteen books in three months. He never expected to find himself donating his work to libraries in a place he had only recently begun to call home.
Now his books sit on the shelves of the Silver Bay and Two Harbors Public Libraries, waiting for the next young reader to discover them. And just outside Silver Bay, Rocky Taconite is still standing watch. Now he has a few new adventures waiting in the pages.
Greg Ziegelbauer’s books are available to purchase on Amazon and available for check out at local libraries.
