Kimo and Kalini

About the Book

Kimo and Kalini: A Hawaiian Mouse Tail was inspired by a few things, including actual events. At around age nine, Jimbo’s younger daughter was an avid reader of the Poppy series of books about mice, written by the acclaimed author, Avi. While on vacation on Oahu, Hawaii, he spotted two little mice running around on the lava rock below the concrete barrier at the Halona Blowhole, which is not far from Koko Head and Marina Bay. The Halona Blowhole is also right next to a small beach known to locals as Cockroach Bay. One mouse was light brown in color, and the other was darker gray or brown. The idea of these two characters stayed in Jimbo's head until March of 2016. The rest of the story came to him after rescuing his older daughter's charm from a hotel drainpipe (without calling maintenance) while on a ski vacation with his girls. Please, enjoy reading with your children.

About the Author

Jim “Jimbo” Harris is an artist and musician, born on May 21, 1965. He was raised in Wayland, Massachusetts, and was known by his friends and family at a very young age to be really good at drawing. He became a good drummer by the time he was in his first garage band at the age of fifteen. He didn’t pursue academic degrees in art and music but always stayed in touch with both. He learned to sing and play guitar in his early twenties and got his first break as a musician touring with the highly acclaimed Grateful Dead tribute act, Dark Star Orchestra, doing sixty-three shows as their Bob Weir role player over the summer of 2000. Upon the arrival of the first of his two daughters in early 2001, music and art became hobbies while Jimbo pursued more conventional corporate careers in sales and marketing. Jimbo finally realized he was spending valuable time and energy trying to be a success at things that were simply not him and decided to write Kimo and Kalini in March of 2016. 

He plans to dedicate his time now to his true self, fostering a career as a creative person, authoring children’s books featuring his own artwork, and performing music wherever and whenever possible. He continues his love of performing on stage with his current Grateful Dead tribute band out of Boston, called Playing Dead. He is now networking with more local musicians and hoping to eventually record and release his own album of original music as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Jimbo resides happily in Warwick, Rhode Island.