Halifax author finds compassion in the tale of a lonely tomato plant

Multi-talented singer-songwriter and speaker Dave Carroll hopes to explore new creative territory with his new children’s book, ‘Tom the Tomato Plant’

CITYnews halifax \ Steve Gow

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Just over ten years ago, Halifax singer-songwriter Dave Carroll became a YouTube sensation after a certain airline broke his guitar and refused to compensate for the damage.

With his response song and video, United Breaks Guitars, Carroll became an instant viral hit with more than 21 million views on YouTube. It also climbed to number one on iTunes within its first week of release.

“United Breaks Guitars was the number one music video in the world for a month and it did almost nothing for my music career,” laughs Carroll, who with his brother, have performed as East Coast Award winning duo Sons of Maxwell for years. “I ended up having all these other opportunities and I dragged my music career with me.”

Among those opportunities has been unexpectedly finding a career as a speaker when, shortly after United Breaks Guitars became a viral hit, Carroll was invited to give a speech at a conference of 700 of the biggest brands in the world.

Although he had never really given such a talk before, it was a surprising success. So much so that Carroll quickly landed a newfound career that has taken him to 34 countries and allowed him to develop a storytelling workshop to help organizations and individuals become better storytellers. As well, he wrote a bestselling book about his experience with United Breaks Guitars.

Now, Carroll is ready to embark on his latest career chapter as a children’s author.

The multi-talented Haligonian has just released Tom the Tomato Plant, the story of a farmers’ market-shunned Solanum lycopersicum specimen that finds a sense of purpose after a little girl persuades her family to give the subpar plant a home.

“I have a history with my kids of lying down with them and thinking of stories off the top of my head,” recalls Carroll about how the idea for the book originated as a bedtime story. “For the most part, kids are brutally honest and say, ‘dad, that story sucks’ almost every time, but on this one, I developed a story arc about a tomato plant named Tom and took it through the cycle of life and at the end, both my boys were like, ‘that’s a pretty good story.’”

From there, Carroll put pen to paper and flushed out Tom the Tomato Plant in full, getting further encouragement from a couple friends who are published authors. Although the idea arose before the pandemic began locking down Nova Scotians, Carroll admits COVID-19 didn’t hurt getting the book completed.

“I guess the pandemic gave me an opportunity to really hunker down on the creative side whereas I might have just shelved it as an idea that I’d get to when I had time,” admits Carroll. “Once you start down the road you kind of have to finish it so maybe COVID is the reason it’s existing but the kernel had started before.”

Although Tom the Tomato Plant is aimed at kids between the ages of 6 to 9, Carroll says the book is intended to include “deeper insights” for parents and educators as well. Indeed, at 1,300 words, Carroll says it has been described by a long time educator as “the perfect bridge” to early novels.

To that end, Carroll has had interest working with Nova Scotia Department of Education and hopes to speak at schools around the province to share the book’s message about compassion and making an impact in the world.

Carroll will also hope to make an impact when he introduces Tom the Tomato Plant on February 13 at 2 p.m. with a special free online book launch organized through the Halifax Public Library.

“It’s Super Bowl Sunday but I’m calling Tom the Tomato Souper Bowl Sunday,” laughs Carroll, noting people can take part by clicking the associated link on the Halifax Public Library’s events page.

Carroll is also looking forward to March 5 when he will return to Halifax Central Library for a live all-ages concert that will feature music from his latest album, Until One Day.

“This is an opportunity for people to come out and see a show that is going to feature the songs off my new CD and other selections, a few from Sons of Maxwell (and) the stories behind them,” says Carroll, noting that his music is perfect for audiences of any age.  “(Also) this a good opportunity to get with a full band again too and get back to normal.”

For more information on Tom the Tomato Plant, visit Dave Carroll’s website.