Becka Bonner has published a new children's picture book featuring her longtime mascot Rad the pterodactyl, drawing from her own experiences of finding community after instability. The book launch coincides with a celebration of her button shop's 15th anniversary at her Keizer storefront. Illustrated by friend Taylor Howard, the story emphasizes creating spaces for belonging.
Becka Bonner, founder of the button shop Becka Makes Buttons and the nonprofit Radness Ensues, has independently published the 44-page color picture book "Rad Builds a Home for Lost World Friends." The story follows Rad, a pink pterodactyl with a red bow, who is frozen in ice after an asteroid hits Earth, released by construction workers, and embarks on a quest to find friends. Unable to locate them during travels, Rad decides to create a space where they might find him—a narrative Bonner says mirrors her own life of unstable housing in the Salem area as a child and time as a touring musician, where she often crashed at illustrator Taylor Howard's house. Her path eventually led back to the Salem area, where she established her storefront at 3837 River Rd. N. in Keizer.
Rad, originally designed as the shop's logo 15 years ago—inspired by Bonner's childhood fondness for Pterri the Pterodactyl from Pee-wee's Playhouse—now serves as the mascot for Radness Ensues. Opened in 2024, the nonprofit provides youth with opportunities to express themselves through art, music, and learning management and business skills. Over 500 people use the space monthly, and Bonner views it as the "home for lost friends" Rad creates in the book.
The book includes cameos from Bonner's childhood figures like Ramblin’ Rod and the state Capitol’s Gold Man, as well as dinosaurs from the Prehistoric Gardens roadside attraction outside Port Orford, which partnered in its creation. Inspired by the children's book "Hope for the Flowers," which Bonner bought as a teenager from The Book Bin in downtown Salem, the story conveys that solutions often lie within oneself: two caterpillars abandon a climb for the top of a tower, form chrysalises, and become butterflies. A series of Rad books is planned, featuring dinosaur characters based on shop regulars known as "button buddies," including one about a dinosaur struggling with anxiety.
Bonner created the book for the young and the "young at heart," particularly those seeking belonging. "It was always some kind of caring adult that planted a seed that helped me to kind of gravitate and hold on to some sliver of hope that maybe life could be different as I grow up," she said. "So I try to also give back in that way."
To mark the book's release and the shop's 15th anniversary, Bonner hosts a party and reading on Saturday, March 14, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Keizer location. The event includes free cake, light refreshments, possibly balloons, and books available for purchase and signing, with $1 from each copy benefiting the nonprofit.
