My First Children's Picture Book

This post is about the first picture book I have created with my twin sister Maggie. I am the author and she is the Illustrator of the book (the artist for the pictures).

The book came into existence when I was researching books to get for my friend's baby. I started looking at old picture books that I use to like, and it became a nostalgic trip back in time, that made me feel like a kid again. I really think picture books should be a thing for adults too. they are really fun!

So, after watching read-alongs (video's where someone reads the book on camera, showing the pages to the viewers) on Youtube, I decided to try rhyming words. It went really well, and after about an hour and a half, I had a story written.

So that's how Our Wonderful God was born. Not, like, God himself was born, but the book! And I decided to ask my favorite artist - my twin - to draw the pictures. The result has been a great bonding experience where we each get to express our artistic abilities. I think working on the book has made us closer and better at communication too.

We think this book may take around a year to complete. With Maggie having 2 jobs and a busy schedule she does a great job of making time for working on the book. We have been keeping in contact almost daily, talking about the book at least a few times a week.

We had discussed Maggie doing the art on a digital program, like an Ipad, but we both agree it is even more meaningful to us for it to be hand-painted.

That being said, there has been a lot of trial and error with watercolor style, acrylic paint, texture of the paper, size of the paper and so on. Getting our visions to match has been a fun and collaborative endeavor. The finished art, at the end of this article, just blows me away. It is beautiful. And I am so excited to be working on this with my twin.

For me, being a believer in Jesus, it warms my heart to have my sister working on this project with me, since it is a book about God. Our family is Jewish on my mom's side, and we were raised Jewish. And I am proud of my Jewish roots as well. Jesus and many of his disciples were Jewish, and celebrated Jewish holidays.

I never really saw myself becoming a children's author, but I am glad I am. It is truly exhilarating making up the best rhymes I possibly can. It is so fun for me. I think it is my calling, and I never thought I'd have a passion that I could turn into a career, so it's really wonderful.

To end, I will give you an excerpt from the book:

Before time and creation, nothing was flawed.

The only thing here was our wonderful God.

He decided He'd make a wonderful world,

With galaxies, that swirled and swirled.

And then He made you, and you grew and you grew.

And you were the best creation He knew...

He gave you your toes, and your nose, and your clothes.

He'll be with you always, through the highs and the lows.

(That's all I'm sharing for now!)

Thanks for reading. Please take a look at the first spread below, that goes with the first stanza of the book sample above ("Before time and creation...". :)