“As a kid, I always thought about how street lights work and stuff like that,” Claeys said. “It somehow sparked back to me growing up, and I figured I would write it into a story and keep the spark of imagination alive.”

Claeys, a 2010 graduate and creative advertising major, said he always had wanted to go into writing. ““The Fiddles Go On Strike” is a collaboration between himself and his friend Mark Tomczak, whom he’s known since his freshman year of high school. Tomczak also is a 2010 MSU graduate.

“Bobby did most of the legwork,” Tomczak said. “What he asked me to do was be the illustrator, so he provided me with the story outline and some brief sketches of what he had in mind.”

Tomczak is a middle school science teacher in Baltimore. Outside of illustrating “The Fiddles Go On Strike,” Tomczak has used his drawing in other ventures, most recently to create a superhero for each element of the periodic table as a learning device for his middle school science class.

Donald Semora, president of 2 Moon Press, the publishing company that published the book, said the creativity is what makes it appealing.

“The illustrations help make a book equal to the story,” Semora said. “He used the little creatures as an excuse for why things go and break and get fixed. What made the book very unique is that it’s not the standard book of magical fairies, such and such. It’s timely.”

Semora said the next step for Claeys is book signings, and speaking and reading at local schools in March, which is National Reading Month.

Claeys said he plans to continue writing, and is planning sequals for the story.

“I’ve started writing sequels to this book, just trying to get the name out there,” he said. “And I also have a few other children’s books ideas that I’m sketching down now.”