Meet my guy Oliver, better known as Ollie on his popular Facebook page Ollie’s World. Like most two-year-olds, Ollie is very impressionable during this formative time of his development; and his reactions are 100% real…honest… and sincere. However, unlike most two-year-olds Ollie was born with Caudal Regression Syndrome, a rare condition that affects the development of the lower spine and organs. On Ollie’s World, Ollie’s mom brings awareness to his condition and shares personal videos that highlight his resilience and unbothered, everything is just great spirit and demeanor. We all can benefit from taking a page out of Ollie’s book, and I highly recommend that everyone check his page out.

During a routine visit to their neighborhood Target store one day, Ollie was stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a huge advertisement on the wall starring a child that looks like he does. In the feature photo, you can see the moment after he spun his wheelchair around and stared in awe at the ad.

Caption That!

(what do you think Ollie was saying?)

What a powerful picture! Ollie’s mom said, ” he couldn’t stop looking at it.” She also said, “I could immediately see that he knew he had just seen a boy like himself. Something he has never seen before.” It’s no surprise to me that when she shared this picture in a post on Ollie’s World, the photo was shared more than 33,000 times by the following day.

Writing a children’s book that depicted smart and strong females who are striving for academic excellence was at the forefront of my mind and was one of the driving forces when I was writing VALEDICTORIAN. I wanted my children to have more books that represented them and our culture, so I decided to be a part of the solution.

If you have something to contribute that will empower, encourage, or simply represent your culture or community… then Ollie and I are in 100% agreement that you should make it happen.

I may not have a doctorates degree in “representation,”  but here at LodgeWell Publishing we believe that representation matters immensely!  With that being said,  as an author of a children’s book myself… I’d like to stay in my lane and take an untraditional look at this topic while drawing example from the famous children’s book that we all know and love, ” The Ugly Duckling. “

Do you remember when the “ugly duckling” was young and thought that he was ugly because he was bigger,  and had darker fur then the “other ducklings?”  Well, that was most likely due to the fact that he never saw other birds that looked like him.  Every where he turned he saw smaller, yellow ducklings;  and they all were quick to let him know that they thought he was pretty funny looking.  He was getting it from the ducklings at the pond,  as well as even the adult ducks at the pond.  That left him believing and accepting that he was ugly;  and that everybody else was just better than him.  Despite him progressing and hitting bench marks earlier than his brothers and sisters,  even they were making fun of him.  Angry and frustrated with the way he was being treated,  he decided to leave home and go as far away as possible.  Leaving behind the one person who loved and supported him the most… his momma.

That little duckling had to go far and wide to get his first glimpse of birds that looked like him;  and thank goodness that he did.  For it wasn’t until he saw those other birds that looked like him is when he finally realized that he was in fact not a duck…  but rather a beautiful and graceful swan.

 

So does representation really matter…? 

ABSOLUTELY – POSITIVELY – WITHOUT a QUESTION or a DOUBT… YES!

I get it… the numbers in the visual above are alarming to say the least,  but you can either see that as a reason to not even try to put your book out,  or you can see it as an incredible opportunity.  An opportunity to tell your story like only you can,  an opportunity to empower and inspire your audience,  and an opportunity to up lift people who are in a similar situation to the one you were in.  The less those people are currently represented in the children’s book market,  the bigger your opportunity.

I for one wasn’t going to allow my baby girls to believe for one second that they are any less than the characters in the books they read,  or shows that they watch,  or advertisements that are targeted towards them.  Writing and self-publishing VALEDICTORIAN,  a children’s book starring them as strong, smart, and thriving lead characters has empowered them and sparked a level of creativity that has truly amazed me.   

Using my lesson learned to ignite my children have been extremely gratifying.  But,  empowering readers all around the world and inspiring them to strive for academic excellence,  has been almost equally gratifying as well.   If you have a children’s book idea that can help build the self-esteem of readers who do not usually get to see themselves depicted… then I highly recommend that you do.

It’s actually an incredible time in self-publishing right now.  New technology have empowered us all.  I truly believe that new Best-Selling Authors are going to pop up all over the place out of nowhere!