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Try To Give It Your Best
The Pink Crayon is the story of a little girl who learns the value of sharing, even when it comes to her most prized possession. Where did the idea for this book come from?
I distinctly remember a peaceful day in my backyard, enjoying the sunshine on a beautiful afternoon. Seated beside me, my daughter was immersed in coloring, going through a phase where everything had to be in shades of pink, from her clothes to her favorite spoon at daycare.
Just for fun, I asked if I could use her beloved pink crayon. What unfolded next was unexpectedly touching, revealing the pure innocence and creativity inherent in children.
This moment became the focal point of my story. I also sought to incorporate educational concepts suitable for the 2-5 age group. My writing inspiration stems from daily interactions with kids, and I strongly believe that a picture book has the potential to empower and educate them more effectively than parental rules alone.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
In today’s world, where everything is so fast-paced, there is an ever-increasing need for empathy, collaboration, kindness, and generosity. The need of the hour is to work with people, make choices—possibly difficult ones—each day, and try to give it your best. Sharing does not always mean giving up things; it also means showing empathy, respecting, helping, and taking people along with you as you embark on any adventure. These skills not only help build grit and character but also help us stay grounded and always learn from others. The Pink Crayon has a true entrepreneurial spirit, not just in creating something but also in helping others make their dreams a success.
The artwork in your book is fantastic. Can you tell us a little about your collaboration with illustrator Noor Alshalabi?
I feel truly fortunate to have discovered Noor Alshalabi for my book. What initially drew me in was her impressive portfolio. Noor’s natural artistic style embodies transparency, rich textures, and a serene atmosphere—qualities that were crucial for capturing the essence of my book. To my delight, Noor generously provided a free sample page based on the text I supplied.
Our collaboration began approximately 6-7 months ago. In our initial phone call, I shared the vision and details about the character. The first phase involved character design, where Noor showcased exceptional attention to detail, patiently incorporated my feedback, and underwent multiple revisions.
As we progressed to the book pages, Noor presented initial sketches outlining the entire narrative. We engaged in several revisions, and Noor was accommodating enough to add extra pages to enhance the story’s flow. While the sketching phase demanded time, the transition to colored illustrations was seamless.
Noor’s professionalism shines through in her work. She adopts a modular approach, creating designs with multiple layers, allowing for swift additions or revisions. Her punctuality in updates was commendable, maintaining weekly email conversations throughout the project.
Upon completion of the book, Noor provided all necessary files for uploading to various POD platforms. She remained available for any queries and even made adjustments for specific platforms after the contract concluded. I couldn’t have asked for a more professional and delightful illustrator. Working with Noor was a pure joy.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?
This kicks off the series of five books. I’m honing in on the social aspects of early learning for this character—tackling anxiety, being assertive, and building grit. These ideas are on my mind, and I’ll likely start working on them, possibly late next year.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
The Pink Crayon tells a captivating story that subtly imparts valuable lessons in early learning like empathy, critical thinking and independent decision making. This book encourages young readers to explore the exciting world of numbers, counting and colors, turning learning into a delightful adventure.
The pages are adorned with vibrant illustrations that bring the story to life, ending with a heartwarming and colorful conclusion. But the fun doesn’t stop there! After the story, readers can enjoy hands-on activities like puzzles and quizzes, extending the joy of learning beyond the book.
A must-have for every bookshelf, “The Pink Crayon” seamlessly combines learning with joy. It’s perfect for parents, teachers, and makes for a thoughtful gift for any occasion. Grab your copy today!!
The Pink Crayon
The Pink Crayon, by Radhika Nair, narrates the delightful tale of Little Mimi, a young girl with a passion for art who faces the unexpected challenge of sharing her cherished art supplies. Set against a backdrop of vibrant outdoor scenes, the story unfolds as Mimi grapples with the arrival of visitors who take an interest in her favorite pink crayon. This narrative elegantly explores the complexities of sharing, especially when it involves items that hold significant personal value.
Nair’s storytelling is both engaging and thought-provoking, as it doesn’t offer a straightforward solution to Mimi’s dilemma. Instead, it subtly nudges readers to engage in creative problem-solving, encouraging them to think of various ways Mimi could resolve her predicament. This approach is particularly effective in fostering critical thinking in young readers, as they are drawn into Mimi’s world and her quest to find a solution that benefits everyone. Complementing the story’s charm is Noor Alshalabi’s artwork, which is nothing short of exceptional. Alshalabi’s illustrations are a kaleidoscope of vivid colors and warm expressions, adding depth and vibrancy to Mimi’s journey. The depiction of the pigeons, in particular, is a delightful touch, enhancing the story’s appeal. While the narrative adeptly addresses themes of critical thinking and problem-solving in stressful situations, it also excels in showcasing the importance of compromise and empathy. These themes are woven seamlessly into the story, making this book not only an entertaining read but also an educational one.
The Pink Crayon is an excellent resource for introducing young readers to the fundamentals of critical thinking and problem-solving. Its suitability for a wide age range makes it an ideal choice for both independent reading and shared experiences in family or classroom settings. For those seeking a children’s book that combines a compelling story with valuable life lessons, The Pink Crayon stands out as a heartwarming and insightful choice.
Pages: 32 | ASIN : B0CMPML4KW
Lifelong Friends, No Matter Where You Go
The Whole Dollar follows two brothers that love each other and share everything as they grow up. What was the inspiration for your story?
This is a true story about my two oldest sons. When something is an event from a real-life situation, the story literally writes itself. As a parent, I tried to capture and take note of those precious everyday moments that are fleeting. When you’re raising children, you feel you’ll never forget something and yet, you do. This is one of those events that was burned into my memory and was the hallmark of what a sibling relationship could and should be.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
The obvious idea is the lifelong joy of a loving sibling relationship. The other major idea focuses on the act of sharing. I wanted to emphasize that sharing isn’t only about “giving something away.” It’s the act itself that brings the giver something precious in return. I also wanted to give the children reading this a hint of how sibling relationships change, and in some ways never change, as they get older. It was important to me that this book be a reminder that your brothers or sisters aren’t just a childhood relationship. They can be your closest and best friends for life, no matter where you go.
What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
I think it was to write about what you know and to write the stories the way I tell the stories. Humor, excitement, nostalgia, and sweetness among other things – especially when writing for children.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
The Whole Dollar is releasing on March 4th. I am currently working on 2 additional books and one of those will likely be available early in 2023. The next book will focus on how children experience feelings of anger, anxiety, fear, being tired, being hungry, and how those feelings can make them act in ways that get them in trouble. This book will be a means of helping parents, teachers, and caregivers start meaningful conversations and teach children how to talk about and manage their feelings.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
The Whole Dollar
When two brothers are also best friends, they share everything. From sharing a room to toys, and even food, Big Brother and Little Brother shared all they had with each other. One day Big Brother wants to do a chore to earn a dollar, his mom asked him to rake the leaves, and he did. When he was done, she gave him a dollar bill. Wanting to share like always, Big Brother ripped the bill in two and gave half to Little Brother. Mom said she would put the two halves somewhere safe for the boys. Years later, as the boys grew older, they stayed just as close and shared everything still. Till one day, Little Brother must head off alone to join the Army. Mom has a surprise for the boys before they say their goodbyes.
The Whole Dollar is a beautiful children’s story about brotherly love, compassion, friendship, and mostly about sharing. Lori Croy has written this picture book using her own sons as the inspiration for the story. You can’t help but smile as you read through this heartwarming story because the love these two brothers share is immeasurable.
The language is geared to lower elementary level children and the illustrations are animated and colorful. Illustrator Katelynn Hoefelman has deftly captured the emotions of the brothers. Their personalities shine through in the images as they grow in the story. This creative story shows that even as they grow older, the things they share change, but the love they have for each other does not. Children will be able to understand the message that Croy is presenting while being entertained as well.
The Whole Dollar is a memorable picture book for younger children. The playful storyline and the message of sharing make this phenomenal children’s book ideal for use in the classroom. Showing the bond between brothers and the importance of family values will delight parents and caregivers of all children.
Pages: 28 | ISBN : 1667826190
Happy Tails Camper Stories: Lucy Learns to Share
Lucy is nervous about her first day at Happy Tails Dog Camp. Once she gets there, she sees so many different dogs in all sizes. There was a big play yard with a shed off to the side. Lucy sniffed and made friends with the other dogs. After a while the humans brought out a big box of toys to play with. Lucy wanted the orange ball, but Baxter took it first. All Lucy could think about was that orange ball. So, the next day at camp when the toys were brought out she dashed for the orange ball and ran off and hid so no one could take the ball from her. Lucy learned that playing alone is no fun.
Happy Tails Camper Stories: Lucy Learns to Share by Sharlene Novak and illustrated by Sarah Gledhill is a heartwarming story about learning to share. Learning to share is hard, whether you are a kid or a dog. This playful picture book shows that keeping toys to yourself can end up not being as much fun as one would hope. Instead, it is better to share what you have and that way everyone can have fun together.
The colorful illustrations come to life in this imaginative story. Seeing the way the dogs make friends is relatable to small children that are naturally drawn to cute cuddly animals. The idea of sharing is a hard concept to visualize for little kids, so seeing Lucy get the toy she wanted and be disappointed is a great message that children can relate to.
Happy Tails Camper Stories: Lucy Learns to Share would make an excellent read aloud book for children. The pictures are engaging and the story is beautifully written to relate the message of sharing. Children will love the charismatic dogs in this picture book and parents and teachers will love the meaningful message and simple writing style.
Pages: 28 | ASIN : B09N3WQTSZ
Book Nomads
Some time ago my friends and I were sitting in a small restaurant near our office in Amsterdam. Food was great, the conversation was flowing, and even though I don’t exactly remember what we were talking about, a spontaneous and intriguing thought popped up in my head.
Are my books bored?
Of course, I love all my books, and every time I bought one I always treated it with the upmost respect but, was that enough? How boring must it be to sit on a bookshelf…. forever?
Some of them, like ‘The Courts of Chaos’, I keep re-reading every month, but most of them I just read once and it is over.
I thought a bit more about the reason why. I feel like it is related to latest data-driven optimizations and profiling trends in all entertainment. Movies, Video games, Anime and Books, big studios/companies/mangakas are producing so much, and so much of it looks good-ish, but turns out to be just exploitation of the market. Very few want to put themselves out there and push the boundary so they can make me re-live their story over and over again. Kind of depressing when you think about it. I am not saying that great work is less than before, it is just harder (for me) to find.
Anyway, this was a bit off topic. After I thought about my books sitting on that lonely bookshelf at home, I thought, how cool it will be if I could just share them with my neighbors?
First I would meet someone who reads things that I read, and, for purely selfish reasons, I could ask this person to recommend me some books that I might like, or at least books that I would want to get from his re-reading book list.
That seemed really awesome!
I shared the idea with my friends, and they also loved it, so we decided to build a platform to facilitate borrowing and lending books. We launched https://www.booknomads.com.
Shortly after, I shared my first book ‘The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System’ (https://www.booknomads.com/browse/book/165/1) and it felt great. I learned so much from it, it was a shame for it to sit all day long, bored and ignored on a bookshelf. Now it is on an adventure by being a booknomad 🙂
BookNomads is still quite young and you can help us improve it by giving us feedback, or adding your books.
Any feedback is invaluable.
Thanks in advance!
PS: My daughter(6 yo) also loves it, and now she is waiting for someone to borrow her books so she can make new friends.
PPS: I wonder if there is a name for that feeling you get after you finish a book, the more the book resonates with me the stronger it is. It feels like emptiness and completeness at the same time, as if I am stretched into the abyss. I want to get the books that made you feel like that!
Borrow books around you
because books deserve to travel
In Between… Life
In Between… Life by Luiz Valério de Paula Trindade is a collection of 30 of the Brazilian poet’s English-language works. Each poem is headed by a full-page, colour photograph that is related to the topic of the poem, showcasing the poet’s other loves of photography and travel. In the introduction, he states that his vision for the collection was to capture a range of human emotional experience in the most apt words possible, but without making the poetry feel inaccessible and distant. It’s supposed to feel like a conversation with a friend.
I loved the idea behind this collection, of sharing poetry as widely as possible. I can certainly imagine philosophising about some of the topics late into the night with a friend. Unfortunately, in places this aim detracted from the poetry itself, leading to the telling-rather-than-showing, shallow exploration of Human Dignity, or some of the repetitive, clichéd references to an unapproachable woman in impenetrable armour.
In other places, though, there was evocative imagery that I instantly related to; Turning the Page is a mature description of unrequited love, and it’s expressed as a rounded story. Many of my favourite poems appeared in the latter half of the collection, and most had this same characteristic. The well-chosen order of the lines and stanzas of You Don’t Know allowed me to travel with the main character as their feelings developed, and the ending felt like the cliffhanger in a novel – I wanted to find out what happened next!
Love is a common theme, but I felt as though more aspects of it could have been covered besides the romantic one – Especially For You was a notable exception. Within the romantic poems, Today stood out for me, written with a beautiful simplicity that was still deeply imbued with meaning. The repetition of similar phrases has a strength of several other poems. How combines this with descriptive imagery which really got me feeling its frustration! The rhythm adds to this nicely, but I thought the ending of it was a little awkward. I put this down to the occasional, unnatural syntax. I can imagine that in the poet’s native Portuguese these phrases would flow smoothly.
The last two poems I want to mention are Why I Write and Words. As a writer, their content resonated with me, and I think their description of the process and the importance of writing could help people who have different creative outlets to understand why I spend so much time doing it!
Overall, I believe the collection did cover a range of aspects of the human experience, and although it didn’t work for all of them, the poems that did benefit from the simple phrasing were very effective in bringing the emotions alive for me.
Pages: 94 | ISBN: 154303988X
Bean Takes a Walk
Bean in the Garden is the first book of the children’s series, Bean in the Garden, by Ann Bevans and Matthew Ethan Gray. The books are designed with preschool children in mind, so Bean in the Garden is short, colorful, and easy for young children to understand.
Bean sets out to take a walk around the garden, and packs his favorite toys in his backpack. On the way, he meets Mrs. Berg, who has a new teapot but is out of tea. Bean offers to get her some tea as part of his adventure. Along the way, he meets three little peas who are about his own age, and they all have toys just like his. When he discovers a hole in his backpack and all of his toys are gone, he realizes the three peas were trying to return what they had found. The story is all about sharing, making friends, and being kind; a great message for preschool kids.
The first thing that struck me about the book was the illustrations. Mr. Gray’s artistry fills the page with bright colors and engaging images. This is a world of vegetable people. Bean is, of course, a bean and his mother is a lovely red beet. His neighbors include a friendly lettuce, Mrs. Berg, and a potato, Miss Tots. The clues to Bean’s toy dilemma are right there in the pictures so adults can encourage their children to search for the “lost” toys as they read along. Kids may also want to look at the pictures and imagine their own Bean adventures.
Another message I got from the story is that some things that seem bad, like a hole in your backpack, don’t have to be a big crisis. Bean reacts with shock when he realizes his toys are lost, but instead of being angry, he realizes that the three peas were trying to help him all along. It’s a good way to teach children about kindness and understanding, especially since kids who will be reading this are learning how to control their expectations and emotions.
There are three books in the series thus far, each available in both print and eBook formats. For toddlers and preschoolers, you can’t go wrong adding this book to their reading list. You can get more information about the authors, the series, and links to purchase the print and eBooks at http://beaninthegarden.com/
Pages: 36 | ASIN: B01LNRBK7K
LITERARY TITAN 