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North St. Louis native Pancho Rucker creates to inspire people within his community and beyond. He had a successful career in the music industry as an award-nominated multi-genre songwriter and producer (he even created a melody for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra when he was in the fourth grade). But after suffering a stroke at age 33, he decided to focus on giving his children empowering messages through writing. Rucker, now living in Ferguson, takes us through each of his children's books—and how he hopes his words uplift Black youth.
What inspired you to begin writing children’s books? I have always had a passion for writing. A year after having my daughter in 2017, I had a stroke. It made me ask myself “What do I want to leave for my kids?” and “What do I want to do for my daughter—what do I want to teach her?” Also with me being a Black male in America, there is little to no representation in literary books and things of that nature for my daughter to see herself or my son to see himself in books. I decided to create something for them and possibly help [other] kids along the way.
Why did you write Chin Up, Chest Out? The motivation behind that was solely my stepson. There were a lot of things going on at the time when I wrote the book and he was going through things like trying to find his identity, who he is in school, all before [the COVID-19 pandemic] broke out. He used to ask really mature questions, as far as his self-identity as a Black boy. He would ask “Why are the only times we are on TV on the news when we get in trouble?’” or “Why is it the only time we are on TV is when we can shoot a ball?” We live in Ferguson and he grew up asking things, like, “Why are there tanks on the corners?” or “Do police hate us?” I wanted to create some type of identity because we come from a rich history of inventors. Bypass surgery was created by a Black person—[as was] air conditioning, stop lights, and so on.
What has been the reaction to Chin Up, Chest Out? The book was made for him, but it touched a lot of people that look like me, think like me, and sound like me. A lot of times men, in general, don’t get the chance to be vulnerable and be told “Hey, I love you,” or ‘You are worthy” or “Walk with pride and hold your chest out, because you’re awesome!”
What was your stepson’s reaction to the book? It took me a while to get him to read it, because he was embarrassed that the character on there was based on him, but once he read it he cried. He loved it!
You also wrote a book that adults can enjoy called #NoteToSelf: Motivation in a Pocketbook! It is a motivational quote book for the meme reader. I have done my research and the average American has an eight-second attention span. So, I wanted to reach, motivate, and make people laugh with this book. To me, laughter is the best medicine for the soul. To make people laugh and inspire—that is me in a nutshell.
You have a Bee Bee book series that was written for your daughter, what is the idea of that collection? I wrote the series while I was thinking about the things I was teaching my daughter. One of the books is focussed on learning numbers and one is focussed on animals and the alphabet.
Are you currently working on any new books or projects? I have a book that I am working on right now that is going to be a comical storybook called The Dad Book. It’s essentially something to make light of being a dad, always having to hear the different gripes about being a dad, and turn it into a book [makes others] proud to be a father. I am also working on a cartoon I am going to put out on Amazon called Stixs. It is about two friends and one of the friends’ grandmothers who go on a lot of adventures. It definitely is for adults. It puts you in the minds of South Park, Family Guy, things like that. Also, on October 1, I will launch Pancho Rucker Does the Classics, where I narrate different songs that came out in the ’80s and ’90s. People say music has no substance now, but if you look at songs from back then, they talked about the exact same stuff. It will be a comical approach.
Tell me about the charity organization you help run, Team Rehab. We assist the homeless and underprivileged that recently just got out of being homeless, to find the resources they need to maintain not being homeless. We have helped people find places to stay and assisted with bills. We do clothing drives. We recently did financial literacy courses. We have done free haircut giveaways. We helped more than 100 children get free haircuts before school along with school clothes and supplies. Our main agenda is to combat the issue that is heavily plagued in St. Louis as far as the poverty line goes.
How can people help or get involved with Team Rehab? Funds are the greatest thing we can use as of right now. We have Cash App and Venmo—you can find us under teamrehab314. We also could use volunteers.
