Kids May Be the Best Judge of Children's Books

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My granddaughter has seen the book draft! I read her The Bedbug Who Wouldn't Bite (copyright, Melody Rhodes, 2009). I wanted to gauge her reaction to the story, pre-publication.

After all these months of working on the story and seeing it emerging into a book, this was a special moment!

Zee was very excited! This is the first time she heard the story while seeing it with the actual illustrations. I'm sure she's pictured scenes in her head but this was something tangible. (What would we do without laptops and webcams?)

She absolutely loved it! Zee giggled and thought the whole thing was hilarious. This is what I was hoping for. The most important thing to me is that children relate to the story and enjoy it.

When we finished reading, I asked Zee if she could find the clue and guess what it was. Zee thought this over and studied the pictures. She was proud of herself for winkling it out.

She begged me to read her the next story. Then, of course, it was "Gammy, where's the pictures for the second story?" So I had to explain that the first book had to be published before we could start working on the illustrations for the next book.

Zee wanted to know why she wasn't in the first book ("Gam, how come there's no pictures of me?") so I explained that the publisher lived far away.

"How many books are you going to make?" she asked. I told her that was a secret. In actuality, I don't know, as the creative process has its own momentum and I've learned to let it take the lead.

I can breath a sigh of relief, the book has made the grade!

* The first BEDBUG BOOK book is finished and we have now done most of the pre-publication legwork. It will be published soon and I will keep everyone apprised as to when and where, as matters progress.

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Coming Soon . . . The Bedbug Who Wouldn't Bite

How Bedbug Got Started