Annapolis Author Releases 1st Children's Book, Celebrates With Party

ANNAPOLIS, MD - An Annapolis author and artist recently released his first children's book, and he's celebrating with a party this weekend.

Charlie Mazurek's debut story is called "Shop Annapolis Cats." The tale follows 10 cats and a mouse who find an 18th-century workshop in the city, build crafts together and sell them to fundraise for historic preservation in the state capital.

Mazurek has always been a cat, history and entrepreneurship lover. He has worked professionally in historical preservation and also ran a side business offering Annapolis ghost and architectural tours. This book lets him introduce these historical and entrepreneurial passions to children through the approachable personalities of cats.

"This book combines all my loves, including Annapolis history, historic preservation, architecture, cats, art, design, and entrepreneurship," Mazurek told Patch in an email. "Shop Annapolis Cats is a way to bring this world that I love to life and to share it with others ... The book and series is a way for me to show how preservation is important, and the value of preservation to our cities and lives."

Mazurek has been working on the story intermittently for about 5 years. He took his time, doing dozens of drafts to ensure its quality.

The author now plans to turn "Shop Annapolis Cats" into a series with a book for each cat in the workshop.

"Over time I realized that I couldn’t fit everything in to one story that I wanted to tell so I decided that it should be a series where the story and the characters can be fully developed," Mazurek said. "As challenging as it was to develop the cat characters it was the most fun, because they all represent things that I’m interested in, especially creative pursuits and their professions."

The book is now available for $30 at shopannapoliscats.com. 

Stuffed animals for each cat character are also available on the website. Mazurek makes them all by hand. Their prices start at $65.

The release party is Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. Object and Entropy Modern Design will host the event in their downtown antique store at 62 Maryland Ave. There will be a book reading, a book signing and dessert.

"This book release represents a feeling of accomplishment for finishing the book and a chance to share the story," Mazurek said. "With this being my first book the book event makes it feel real, and helps me to celebrate, create memories, and have fun with others. It’s also kind of like a waypoint, that launches me into the next steps for creating the Shop Annapolis Cats series."

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