When Starkville native Andy Harkness was in the second grade, a teacher gave him an assignment to write a story and to draw pictures to go with it.

Harkness’s career took him far from that classroom, as he spent more than 25 years working for Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment and SkyDance. But he found his way back to his passion and this week, back to the Golden Triangle, with his books “Wolfboy” and “Wolfboy is Scared.”

“My true passion is children’s books, and it has been since the second grade,” Harkness said during a meet and greet at the Starkville Public Library on Monday night. “Animation kind of snuck in there somewhere in college, and Disney came and did a presentation and my whole path changed. Which has been good. … But the dream of the kids book has never been gone.”

Harkness said he got his first internship working for Disney on his 21st birthday, and his first project for Disney was drawing a single leaf in “Lion King.” His responsibilities slowly grew as he worked on films like “Pocahontas” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” until eventually, he was working in the layout department for “Mulan” and “Lilo and Stitch.”

But after the Florida studio was shut down, Harkness moved to California, taking on “Brother Bear” and “Hotel Transylvania” with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Then, he returned to Disney for smaller roles in “Tangled,” “Bolt,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Frozen,” “Zootopia” and “Big Hero 6,” before taking on the role of art director for “Moana.”

As Harkness talked, he displayed color keys, images displaying the colors of different scenes without the final artwork, from “Moana.” One picture of an island was particularly significant to him, as it featured his wife.

“My wife was pregnant with our second son,” Harkness said. “… And she was not feeling good, so she laid down on the floor on her side … And talking to the director, I knew the island was supposed to be in the shape of a woman. So while she was still sleeping, I put a sheet over her and I got my clay out and tools and I started sculpting. … So that’s my wife, there.”

After finishing “Moana,” Harkness moved on to a new animation company, Skydance. There, he started working on a series, “The Search for Wondala.”

But Harkness said through all the animation, he always felt a desire to write children’s books. He pitched the idea for the book “Bug Zoo,” as a part of a competition while working at Disney. Harkness ended up illustrating the book, which was written by Lisa Wheeler, in 2016. But he still wanted to write a book of his own.

In 2021, Harkness published “Wolfboy,” a book both written and illustrated by him. “Wolfboy” depicts a very cranky, hungry werewolf, based on Harkness’s children when they are hungry. He created the artwork for the book using clay to sculpt his characters and their surroundings.

Then, in July 2023, Harkness published the sequel, “Wolfboy is Scared,” showing the same werewolf trying to overcome his fear of the “Grumble Monster.” For the second book, he sculpted the illustrations, not with clay, but in virtual reality, imitating the same style digitally.

While visiting the Golden Triangle on Monday and Tuesday, Harkness read both of his books at the Starkville Public Library, the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library and at five area schools. On Monday, he visited Sudduth Elementary, West Elementary and Starkville High School.

In honor of Harkness’s visit, Reading 2 Succeed, one of the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District’s literacy programs, purchased a copy of “Wolfboy is Scared” for each first grade student in the district to take home with them, according to the district’s website.

On Tuesday, Harkness also visited Annunciation Catholic School and Cook Elementary in Columbus.

Emily Liner, owner of Friendly City Books, said Friendly City Books Community Connection, a special project of the CREATE Foundation, furnished more than 500 copies of “Wolfboy is Scared” to children at the public school, due to receiving a grant intended for Title 1 Public Schools.

“The big message of the book is to talk to somebody you trust, like a parent or teacher, and not let your fear turn into stress or anxiety or panic,” Liner said. “So it’s a really good management tool for kids, but it’s told in a really fun way.”