my budding author
At eight years old, he can tell you thousands of random facts about animals and nature.
He’ll draw for hours and sit contentedly on a blanket watching birds flutter around his feeders.
Writing – well, despite how good he is at it, he just doesn’t see it as his thing.
And then we figured out a way to make it his thing…or at least something that makes him excited. He made a book. A real printed book.
He typically illustrates all over his writings, but this time I asked him to illustrate every sentence or main point. Once his illustrations were complete, I photographed each illustration and then uploaded them to Mpix and added his text. We ordered a softcover book from Mpix. He checked the mail everyday waiting for it to arrive. After some frustration and worrying on my part as his mom/teacher regarding teaching him to write, what a joy it was to see him so excited about his book. I remember making my own book in 6th grade. It wasn’t printed by a company, but my teacher bound it for me. I need to search my parents’ house for that book. It was about a gymnast and had a joke about a cow with no feet. Random. Like my blog. I’ve been doing random all my life. By the way, a cow with no feet is called “ground beef”. You’re welcome.
His book is about a Japanese adventurer. He searched online for popular Japanese names and picked “Kenji Hamada”. Turns out there is a voice actor by the same name, which is kind of appropriate because this kid can make a whole range of great voices.
He wanted to use colored pencils for his illustrations. I had him take a gel pen to outline the main parts so they would stand out more when printed in the book.
The guy falling off the pirate ship was yelling, “there goes my breakfast”. It is my favorite part of the book.
He wrote an “About the Author” page and picked the picture he wanted included. You can’t put a price on the value of literature like this.
He wants me to print more so he can sell them. I’ve got a budding author and salesman on my hands. I couldn’t be more proud.
