When Becka Bonner was dreaming up a logo for her button shop she sent a picture of herself with her arms spread out wide to her friend Taylor Howard and asked him to draw a pink pterodactyl with a red bow in the same pose. 

She had always been a fan of dinosaurs, and was probably subconsciously influenced by Pterri the Pterodactyl from the show Pee Wee’s Playhouse, she said.

In the 15 years since, that pterodactyl, Rad, has taken on a new life as the main character of Bonner’s new independently published children’s book, “Rad Builds a Home for Lost World Friends,” which was illustrated by Howard.

Rad’s footprint is also the logo of Bonner’s nonprofit art and community support space, Radness Ensues, which opened in 2024 and aims to give youth opportunities to express themselves through art making, playing music, and to learn management and business skills. It occupies the same storefront as Bonner’s button shop at 3837 River Rd. N. in Keizer.

This Saturday, March 14, to celebrate the book’s release and 15 years of Becka Makes Buttons, Bonner will host a party and book reading from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the shop. The party will have free cake and light refreshments, possibly balloons, and books available to purchase and be signed by Bonner. One dollar from the sale of each copy goes towards the nonprofit.
Bonner said over 500 people use her space every month.

The 44-page color picture book follows Rad’s origin story, from being frozen in ice after an asteroid hits Earth, to being released by construction workers, and his subsequent quest to find friends.
Bonner said Rad’s story is meant to emulate her own. 

“All he wants is to find his friends. And as he’s going on his travels, he can’t. … Finally, he’s just like: ‘Y’know, I’m just gonna go and create a space where maybe my friends can find me,’” she said.

Bonner dealt with unstable housing in the Salem area as a kid and later spent some time as a touring musician. She said she used to crash at Howard’s house when on tour. 

Ultimately, her path led her back to the Salem area and the creation of her storefront space.

For her, Radness Ensues and the button shop are the home for lost friends Rad ultimately creates in the story.
The book features cameos by figures from Bonner’s childhood like Ramblin’ Rod, the state Capitol’s Gold Man. It also includes dinosaurs from the Prehistoric Gardens roadside attraction outside Port Orford, which partnered with Bonner in the creation of the book.
She said the book was inspired by the children’s book “Hope for the Flowers,” which she bought as a teenager from The Book Bin in downtown Salem. 

In it, two caterpillars struggle to climb a tower of other caterpillars. But by abandoning the fight to claim the top of the tower, the caterpillars are able to form chrysalises and become butterflies.

“(The book) really resonated with me,” she said. “Sometimes the answers to questions you’re asking are very simple and they’re already aligned within yourself. Rad spent all this time traveling around the world, trying to find friends, and then just decided to go home where his friends found him.”
Bonner said a series of books in the Rad universe is in the works, with more dinosaur characters based on real “button buddies,” or regulars at the button shop. One she’s working on is about a dino who struggles with anxiety.
Like all her other projects, she said the book is created for the young and the “young at heart,” and especially people seeking a sense of 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.”

Contact reporter Skeet Starr: [email protected].