Copyright 2010

Kacin's first book.

A few months ago, probably when I told him no more lemonade stands this year, Kacin got it in his head to sell books. From the way he was talking about it all, I'm sure he was envisioning a table on the street corner covered with books that he, his brother, and friends had made. People would come from miles around and he would get rich from selling his books! This triggered a 2-day long painting frenzy. He painted cars, cars driving, and cars exploding to make his first book, entitled Cars. The excitement simmered down and I thought the idea was dead, but then he started asking questions about the library. I'm sure this time he was envisioning his book proudly displayed on the shelf, with a barcode, so many different kids could scan it at the computer to check it out and read at home.

I explained to him that before he made a book (with the hardcover he insisted on), he needed to talk to the library about the process of book donations. Like, he needed to be the one to do it, not me. I kind of thought that would put the kibosh on the idea. Would my little shy boy actually speak in a big voice to the librarian? Well, his will and desire was stronger than his fears and he walked up to the desk and asked if he could write a book for the library. She kindly smiled and directed him to the bearded man at the information desk. He reminded me of Santa Claus. Kacin walked up to him and asked if he could write a book for the library and if so what kind of books the library needed. The man was the kindest ever and encouraged him to go for it and write about something he knew about.

Kacin got started the next day. He thought and thought and finally decided on a Halloween book (since at that point it was a few days until Halloween). He made up the story and I wrote down his words exactly as he said them. He decided on the page breaks. I did the typing and he did the illustrations. After doing a little bit here and a little bit there, he finally finished the book today.

He carefully carried it to the library and presented it to the jolly Santa-Librarian. With a big smile, the man read Kacin's book and congratulated him. He suggested that Kacin also share it with his school teacher. Kacin happily agreed and now the book is home with us again. (I'm not really sure what I'm going to do if Kacin insists on bringing it back to the library--I'm not sure what the library would really do with it . . .)

We are proud that Kacin showed so much initiative and dedication in his little project. The first few illustrations he was drawing, erasing, and drawing again--striving for perfection. Though by the end of the book, he was pretty impatient and feeling done and we really had to encourage him to finish his last pictures with some kind of color and neatness. But he stuck with it and did it!

You are quite the author, Kacin! We can't wait to see what your next book will be!