Once upon a time, a Madison couple went out to dinner. Inspiration struck and Angie and Ben Buelow began writing the words for a children’s book. Before their drinks even arrived, they had their first draft, on a cocktail napkin, of what would become Goodnight Madison.
But the story didn’t magically become a book.
“I typed it up, and it lived on the side of our fridge for five years,” Angie says.
Life went on for Angie, Ben and sons Colin and Gunnar, who are now sixteen and five, in their home on the east side of Madison. But last April, Angie turned her attention back to the story.
The Buelows have an eclectic collection of “Good Night” books featuring different places they’ve visited. Angie was excited to put her own spin on a tribute to Madison, and had a specific aesthetic in mind. When she connected with local artist Lindsey Salzwedel, it felt like fate.
“I knew I wanted the book to have this Impressionistic look to it,” she says. “The day I found Lindsey, she had just posted a tribute to her favorite artist, Van Gogh.”
The two collaborated on bringing classic elements of Madison — from State Street to the Dane County Farmers’ Market to Overture Center to Camp Randall — to life through beautiful and vibrant words and illustrations.
In October, Goodnight Madison was published through Orange Hat Publishing in Waukesha.
“When we got the books, it was absolutely amazing,” Angie says. “It was the proudest moment ever.”
In promoting the book and selling it at bookstores and markets (in addition to their WiscKids Books website and on Amazon), Angie met a lot of enthusiastic readers, and also received many suggestions about other locations that could benefit from her attention.
So she started thinking about Milwaukee, the city where she and Ben met and still love to visit.
“We started bullet pointing and finding things that rhymed,” Angie says. “We wrote Goodnight Milwaukee in an hour.”
The book, also illustrated by Lindsey and published by Orange Hat, is now available on WiscKids Books and Amazon.
But Angie, Ben and Lindsey aren’t stopping there. Next up is Goodnight Door County, an ode to a beloved vacation spot. Angie and Gunner went on a scouting trip last September to determine what elements to highlight in the book, which is slated to come out this summer.
And after that is Goodnight Mama, a heartfelt story that Angie plans to release before the holiday season.
But for now, the Buelows are enjoying the success of Goodnight Madison.
“Colin gets excited when he sees it out in public,” Angie says. “And Gunnar is just obsessed with it. He falls asleep with it every night.”
In other words, it’s a perfect ending.
To learn more about the Goodnight books, visit the WiscKids Books website, Instagram or Facebook page.
Photos courtesy of Angie Buelow.
Katie Vaughn is the editor and co-founder of Northerly. She is a University of Wisconsin-Madison and Stanford University-trained journalist with experience as a writer, reporter, editor, blogger and author. She lives in Madison with her husband, daughter and son, and is always up for an adventure.