Island Gang author to visit Borders

Local writer is the creator of the Raft Island gang series

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

Anyone who picks up the book “The Legend of Crystal Cove” may recognize a familiar map on the book’s cover.

They might do a doubletake while passing the book on a shelf if they recognize the long, sinewy body of the Key Peninsula, or the familiar shape of Fox Island.

Local author Larry Johns just completed the second book in “The Island Gang” series, “Legend of the Masks,” and he is currently working on a third novel.

Johns said the books are fiction, but the setting is right here in Gig Harbor’s back yard, centering around Raft Island and Dead Man’s Island, now officially known as Cutts Island.

“The map on the front of each book is an authentic map drawn by my nephew, Kyle Smith,” Johns said. “My kids spent all their summers on Raft Island. They would run around doing spend-the-nights from one house to the next.

“Everyone knew each other,” he said. “All of the characters in the book are based on real people.”

Johns describes the books as “a kind of Huck Finn, Hardy Boys adventure.” The protagonists will grow up with each book, a la Harry Potter, instead of staying the same age.

“The island gang ages progressively, which allows relationships to change,” he said. “The first book they’re in the 11-12 age range; they’re 12-13 in book two. It’s kids out on a boat exploring out in the water. All of that stuff has appeal.”

Johns said the mystery surrounding Dead Man’s Island is whether or not it was used as a Native American burial ground. Another legend stems from long-time tugboat captains that says whenever there’s a heavy storm, all the bodies would wash up on Dead Man’s Island.

“The way the currents would run, things would just get deposited there,” Johns said. “When a boat would go down in a storm, they would just do patrols to the back side of the shore of Dead Man’s.”

Johns travels the United States and Canada regularly as a sales manager for Lord Corporation, an adhesives manufacturer. Becoming an author has allowed him an opportunity to lecture at schools, something he says he has always wanted to do.

“I like to motivate kids to get pumped up about working hard,” he said. “I tell them, ‘Don’t waste your life in the party or gaming scene. Develop a work ethic and stay at it.’

“Since becoming a published author, I started coordinating it (visiting schools) with my travels.”

Johns’ third book, “Legend of the Orcas,” is “well under way,” he said.

The author is in the process of developing tests for the books so school children can read it as a class book.

Book signing

Visit Island Gang creator Larry Johns at Borders Books from 1 to 3 p.m. Sept. 27 at Borders Books and Music at 4601 Point Fosdick Drive NW in Gig Harbor.

For more information, call 253-858-7853 or visit www.theislandgang.com.

Reach reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by e-mail at susan.schell@gateline.com.