By M. English
Correspondent

Bebop Bunny has gone public.

Plymouth Meeting’s Amy Seidman created the young rabbit during bedtime story sessions with toddler son Jake. Now, he’s the furry protagonist in Seidman’s recently published “The Adventures of Bebop Bunny.”

The colorful hardback was illustrated by artist Nick Dimitriadis and is available online ($13.45 at amazon.com) or during one of the author’s upcoming readings or book signings.

Tonight’s reading is at Congregation Or Ami in Lafayette Hill, for example. Seidman’s 3-year-old daughter, Sarah, attends Or Ami nursery classes, Seidman plans to donate 20 per cent of the event’s book sales to the school. The 6:30 p.m. reading is open to all, including “kids in PJs.”

Seidman sees Bebop as “a new age Peter Rabbit” — created for reading “aloud to 3- to 5-year-olds [or] so that children can grow into it and practice reading it on their own.”

“He has all this energy, and because he doesn’t listen to his mother, he ends up getting lost in the Great Big Forest and meeting up with these strange new characters,” Seidman says. “I wanted to celebrate diversity, and there are several positive messages in the book.”

Such as “you shouldn’t judge people by their looks.”

“The prettiest character is actually mean, and the big, scary-looking one turns out to be a true friend,” Seidman adds. “And I want children to see how important it is to pay attention to parents, especially when it comes to safety.”

Bebop’s journey from her son’s bedside to the world at large didn’t happen overnight. In fact, his trip was fueled by Seidman’s relationship with husband Jeff.

“I was a single mom with a baby,” the Blue Bell native explains. “I had to work to support us, and that meant putting Jake, who’s 11 now, in daycare. By the time I finished work, my quality time with him was bath time and bedtime, which I treasured. I’d read to him and make up all these stories on my own, and he came up with the name ‘Bebop the bunny.’

“So, then, I met my [future] husband, the total opposite of anyone I’d dated before. He’s Jewish, and I’m Italian, for one thing. But he’s such a total sweetheart. He absolutely changed my world, and I think it was fate because I met him when [my job] took me to an area that I didn’t usually [cover].

“At some point, Jake started saying, ‘Tell Jeff about Bebop Bunny.’ So he knew that I made up these children’s stories, and as my wedding present, he gave me a course in writing and illustrating a children’s book at Main Line Art Institute in Bryn Mawr.”

The gift suited the former Amy Fazio perfectly. Following her graduation from Wissahickon High School, she’d spent two years at Antonelli Art Institute before earning an interior design-related business degree at St. Joseph’s University and “was always into art and crafts.”

“My friends always called me Martha Stewart on a budget,” she says.

The Main Line Art Institute course helped add “published author” to her resume by making her realize she “really did have the start of something with Bebop Bunny.”

Jake’s third-grade teacher even invited her to discuss writing at a Ridge Park Elementary School career week. But it would take a few more years of polishing and confidence-building — aided by positive critiques from fellow parents and PTO members at Ridge Park and, later, Colonial Elementary School — before Seidman took things to the next level.

“In the beginning — because of my art background — I tried doing the illustrations myself, but I’m just not that kind of artist,” she says. “It all got pretty frustrating, so I’d just put the story aside and do nothing. But it was always on my mind to some degree.

“Jake’s at Colonial Middle School now, but back when he was at [Colonial Elementary], a mom came up to me at a PTO meeting and asked me whatever happened with my book. That comment was what really pushed me. I knew I needed to bite the bullet and stop procrastinating.”

In the end, Seidman self-published with Rhinebeck, N.Y-based Epigraph Publishing. Epigraph principal Paul Cohen edited “The Adventures of Bebop Bunny” — “the first children’s book the company’s ever done,” Seidman says — and directed her to a pool of possible illustrators.

She eventually connected with Dimitriadis, “who turned out to be a real find.”

“I knew I needed someone who could work with me as an artist,” she says. “I started out with a group of, maybe, 15 possible artists, but I kept going back to Nick. He lived in this country for a while, but he’s back in Greece, so we’ve never met. The whole thing took about two months. We were in constant contact by phone and e-mail, and it was a total collaboration. I really felt that I was part of the illustration process.

“I just love what Nick did. All the illustrations were hand-sketched — not computer-generated — and they’re fantastic. I think they just pop off the page.”

As she begins making the rounds with Bebop and company, Seidman admits she’s “sort of nervous — in a good way — and very excited, all at the same time.”

“This is all so new to me,” she says. “I never ever thought I’d be a writer. It’s kind of overwhelming.”

Seidman figures her hero’s personality might lend itself to “a series,” but she’s currently working on a book about Alzheimer’s disease.

“My grandfather had Alzheimer’s, and he lived with us when I was a teenager, and it was a pretty crazy time,” she says. “My nana had a tough time when she got older, too. She was so smart and sophisticated. Then, to see her not even know who I was — that was tough.”

Tonight’s reading at Congregation Or Ami is free and will be followed by a book-signing and dessert. The synagogue is located at 708 Ridge Pike, Lafayette Hill.

For information, call 610-828-1086.

Additional details about “The Adventures of Bebop Bunny” are available at aseidman4@comcast.net.