JAMESTOWN — A Jamestown resident used her experience on an ambulance ride in October 2022 to motivate her to write a series of rhyming children’s books.
Connie Krapp said she was experiencing a migraine headache one evening and saw a doctor the next morning. The migraine headaches occur every once in a while, and she said she has learned how to manage them pretty well.
But this time, she had a migraine headache hit her harder. She experiences one like this every few years, Krapp said.
After getting a CT scan and an MRI, the doctor sent her to Fargo fearing a blood clot.
On her way to Fargo in the ambulance, she said she thought more of the situation and how she is now at a certain age where anything can happen.
“I thought I always wanted to write a book and I never wrote any books,” Krapp said.
After a few weeks when Krapp was feeling better, she decided to write rhyming children’s books.
The first of her series of books — “Ozzy Ox: Candy Stash” — was released Monday, July 31, on Amazon. Other books in the Ozzy Ox series include “Ozzy Ox: Toy Trauma,” “Ozzy Ox: Moody Morning” and “Ozzy Ox Takes a Stand Against Socks.” She hopes all four Ozzy Ox series books will be released by the end of this year.
The books are authored under her pseudonym, Callen Kropp, which is a combination of Krapp’s maiden name, Allen. She added a C to her maiden name to come up with Callen and changed the spelling of the last name from Krapp to Kropp.
Krapp’s Ozzy Ox series aims to teach children how to make good choices, admit mistakes when they are made and learn that life’s everyday difficulties can be best overcome by honesty, acceptance and forgiveness. Krapp said she wanted to author books that children could read and learn how to manage their lives.
“There’s like little things or lessons in each book,” she said.
Krapp works with illustrator Emily Erickson Hagen from West Fargo, North Dakota, to bring Ozzy Ox characters to life. Krapp said she had commissioned a painting from the illustrator several years ago and remembers her paintings in her home.
“You walk into her house, and there are her paintings lining every wall,” she said. “Her paintings are very vivid, colorful.”
Krapp said Hagen had illustrated a few other books and was working on others. She wasn’t sure if Hagen would work on Krapp’s project. Hagen now has completed illustrations for three of the books and will work on the fourth.
“She does a really neat job I think with expression,” Krapp said.
Krapp said the last book, “Ozzy Ox Takes a Stand Against Socks,” was actually the first one she wrote. She said she has grandchildren and remembers one who always took his socks and shoes off.
“I was thinking every kid hates socks,” she said.
The natural selection for a character might have been bison. Connie and her husband, Oren, got into the bison business in the 1980s and started The Bison Ranch Lodge & Outfitters between Pingree and Buchanan in 1997 — now owned by their son, Kelsey, and his wife, Emily — that offers bison hunting along with waterfowl, whitetail deer, upland game and predator hunting packages, according to its website.
But Krapp said she wanted to practice working with oxen first.
“Someday, if everything goes well, then I will transition,” she said. “Ozzy has cousins that are bison, so maybe that’s the future.”
The characters are oxen who live a lot like humans. Krapp said MomOx is a single mother because she likes to give credit to all single moms who work really hard to raise their children. After she wrote her books, she began researching children’s books and read about publishers not liking rhyming books, stories about animals with alliterative names and didactic or “preachy” books.
She joined an online children’s book-critiquing group to help her out. She said it’s hard to edit rhyming books.
“Change one word and you got the whole thing to redo,” she said. “They’ve been pretty helpful in that way.”
Her first book is available on Amazon as a free e-book until Sunday, Aug. 6. The book is on sale through Aug. 13 for $18.99 ($24.99 regular) for a hardcover and $7.99 ($10.99 regular) for a paperback.
Krapp said “Ozzy Ox: Toy Trauma” is scheduled to be released on Aug. 31, “Ozzy Ox: Moody Morning” is on Oct. 31 and “Ozzy Ox Takes a Stand Against Socks” hopefully by the end of November.
All books in the Ozzy Ox series will eventually be available to bookstores, gift stores and libraries. For summaries of each book and for more information about the launch of “Ozzy Ox: Candy Stash,” visit
or search for Callen Kropp on Facebook, Instagram and other social media.
