When Michael Pietrack was growing up, his father would tell him a story about a little bee. At the end of the story, his dad would close with the words “be noble.”
Pietrack grew up, attended CMU, playing baseball and majoring in English. He also participated in theater and he fell in love with Shakespeare.
In 2010, Pietrack sat down to write his father a short poem, elaborating on the theme of “be noble.”
“When I showed it to him, his eyes got wide,” said Pietrack. “’Let’s expand on this’, he said.”
And expand they did. By the end of 2010, the story was 15,000 words or about 30 pages. Pietrack was a new father but found time to record the story on a CD and give it to his dad.
Pietrack and his wife had two more children, his business prospered, and the story lay in a drawer. When COVID-19 hit, Pietrack and his dad went on a road trip and listened to the recording. They decided to pick the project back up.
During the next two years, the story grew to 31,000 words in 14 chapters and morphed into what Pietrack calls “an epic fable.”
And now, in 2023, the story has been published as Legacy.
According to Pietrack, Legacy is a genre unto itself.
“Each chapter is a fable, written in iambic pentameter with rhymed couplets, similar to Shakespeare,” he said.
Legacy crosses easily defined categories because in Pietrack’s telling it is not a children’s book, yet children will enjoy reading it, and adults and teens will enjoy it on their own. The book is interactive with a QR code at the each of each chapter that links to Pietrack’s website for “behind the scenes” animation and interviews. Catrina Odom, a 2021 CMU graduate, created the intricate illustrations.
Pietrack has also recorded an audio book, performing each of the twenty voices found in Legacy — a true testament to his love for theater which was nurtured at CMU.