Blending his passion for technology and art into adventure, first-time author Michael Lee published “Drone Away From Home” to help encourage younger audiences to read and inspire readers to explore.

Lee, a military veteran, was first inspired to tell a story of adventure after moving to Colorado in 2010 and seeing the beauty of the state. When his three children were young, he used to take them to the park where they would fly kites. 

Lee wrote a story called “The Kite in the Cloud,” but was not completely satisfied with it, leaving the story to sit in his computer. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee was looking for a creative outlet and decided to come back to the story. 

“You don’t see too many people flying a kite nowadays,” said Lee. “I swapped out the kite for drones and made it much more interesting.”

“Drone Away From Home” is a story that involves friendship, overcoming obstacles and going on a worldwide adventure. 

Lee’s story is about a young boy named Darius and his drone friend, Finton. One day, Finton gets lost in a storm and meets a cloud named Sophia who helps him find his way back to Darius. 

“You just hear all the stories of how you know, kids weren’t reading during the pandemic,” said Lee. “My goal was to help inspire kids to both read and write about technology.”

Lee got a master’s degree in Information Technology and is now an engineer. Lee said this book and his future books are going to infuse technology, whether it's about how technology can help people or bring people together. 

“Drone Away From Home” is the start of a series. Lee plans to have another book come out next year. 

The next book will be a kind of prequel as it will take kids through the process of how a drone is created in a factory and the tests drones have to go through before they can go to a store to be sold. 

Lee also plans to write multiple spin-off series based on the cloud, the drone and the little boy from “Drone Away From Home” each having their own series. 

For “Drone Away From Home” Lee commissioned illustrator, Nyrryl Cadiz, from the Philippines and together, they created the images for the book. 

Lee’s book was published by Book Baby in June and on Aug. 19 from 1 to 3:30 p.m., he will be holding an event at the Highlands Ranch Library to celebrate the launch of the book. 

The book is available at Book Baby Bookshop, Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Noble and Wheelers Books for $17.99. 

“I look forward to releasing more creative children’s books that use technology and friendship and overcoming challenges,” said Lee. “And just helping inspire more and more readers.”