Meet the Young Author Using Audio to Bring His Books to Life

On evening walks during the pandemic, then 7-year-old Jaxon Dean McMillon kept seeing raccoons knock down trash cans around his neighborhood and wondered who could help clean up the mess they made in his community. He dreamed up a group of furry friends who would scurry about town doing great deeds for others and started writing a story about it. That story soon grew to a seven-book series with the help of his mother, Brooke Dean.

Brooke oversees the US Operations team for all of Audible Originals’ third party scripted content and podcasts and, in support of Jaxon, originally helped to publish his story, The Whisker Gang, as a picture book for kids aged 4-9 years old. As it grew into a series, she naturally thought of bringing the stories to audio using ACX. The two already had a narrator and producer in mind who could handle the narration and sound effects, so Brooke used the DIY pathway to upload their finished audio to ACX. Producing the audiobooks quickly became a fun project for them to do together—and even inspired Brooke to write and produce her own romance audiobooks. (More on her story here.)

Jaxon’s books have gained an avid audience and he even appeared on New York’s Pix11 News last year to talk about them. Part of the initial inspiration for the series were Jaxon’s own cats, Jay and Sasha, and the more he wrote, the more other ideas started to come to the surface, many drawn from his personal experiences—like facing a bully, eating healthy, or having fun at school—all crafted with a positive outlook for each story. “I’m a really positive person and I want other people to be more positive too. I wish there was more positivity and peace in the world,” Jaxon says.

Turning the stories into audio productions revamped the series for Jaxon, making it feel like a new experience just as he was outgrowing creating picture books. “It was so cool getting to hear how the voices can change for different characters,” he says, “and the sound effects were one of my favorite parts when I listened to my books for the first time.” Brooke adds, “Jaxon could finally hear his stories come to life.”

Seeing his books come together in print and in audio is Jaxon’s favorite part of the process. The hardest part? Thinking up new ideas for books. At some point in creating The Whisker Gang series, he started to wonder if it had run its course. His mother helped him think that through, brainstorming with him to see how far they could take the series. “We have a white board and I would write down all of his ideas and have him write the outline for the book,” says Brooke. During the writing process, she found that it was harder for them to draft 500 words than it was for her to write 50,000 words for her own personal projects. “Keeping the continuity going but having the copy be simple enough for young children was a challenge,” Brooke adds.

The two often find story ideas from the ups and downs of learning new things. Last winter, after Jaxon struggled to find his groove during ice skating lessons, Brooke encouraged him to write a book about not giving up. In Finding Friendship on the Ice, the series’ main character Jax keeps falling down while learning to ice skate, and his friend Noel keeps encouraging him to get back up and keep trying until he becomes better at the activity. For this book, Jaxon gave a portion of his royalties to Figure Skating in Harlem, an organization that helps Black and Brown girls learn how to ice skate. “It's not only about writing books,” Brooke said. “I want him to give back to the community as well.”

While Brooke likes that working on the series helps Jaxon develop different skills, like sharpening his attention to detail and proofreading, she adds, “I want him to learn something from it. You have to give back, foster literacy in your community and when he’s creating, he keeps those things in mind. It’s also not about making money. My goal was never for him to be a best-selling author, it was for him to have an idea, and see that this idea can be brought to life in a tangible way and to see it through.”

In addition to media attention, Jaxon has been invited to speak at different schools and libraries throughout New York City to grades K-3 about his writing process and creation of the series. He usually finds himself the only child author at these talks. “The children are captivated when he speaks and it’s like he has a different type of superpower, having an advantage of being a child author writing books for kids,” Brooke says. “It’s easy for other children to relate and learn from him because he is closer to their age compared to an adult author, and he always writes about his lived experiences.”

Jaxon's school in Queens even added The Whisker Gang to their annual Scholastic Book Fair and he was able to sign books for his classmates who purchased them. He also encouraged his friends to check out his audiobooks.

If Jaxon is ever struggling in school, he tells himself, “Every small step is one step to victory. If you don't have the resources to start writing a book, or you are scared to start, you can always ask others for help.” Brooke echoed Jaxon and agreed that their creation process was never perfect. She said, “Be creative with your resources. I think what stops people from doing projects like this is thinking the money or time isn't there, but we figured it out as we went along, and made mistakes along the way. We never rushed the process and always made sure to have fun.”

Jaxon has eight more The Whisker Gang books he wants to release before he moves into writing chapter books. The two are also translating all of Jaxon’s books into Spanish and they will be released for Hispanic Heritage month. Jaxon is extremely proud of writing his series and hopes his books inspire other children to tell their own stories.