March 1, 2026 – Patrick Jones of Columbus, Indiana, has created a character named Junkyard Jones, who loves to help people by making things using his hands and ingenuity. He gets a lot of help from his dog, Pepper. Jones’s debut children’s book, Junkyard Jones and Pepper the Pup: The Secrets of Scrapyard Hill, is in production with PathBinder. In it, Junkyard tries to build a self-feeding system for Farmer Mandy, who’d hurt her back stacking hay bales. Along the way, he employs a tiny dose of magic, as well as some encouragement from Pepper. Bryan Werts of greater Louisville, Kentucky, is the illustrator.

Jones is a U.S. Army veteran who draws inspiration from his two children to create stories of hope and love. Growing up with little, Jones learned that with a little imagination and creativity, discarded items can be made into something extraordinary.