Sibling strong! Share, care, help, and be kind!
This is the message of “Super Big Brother: Finding Your Hero.” Find someone, a hero, you can look up to whether you have a sibling or not. This is the first picture book published of a ten-book series, suitable for ages 3-7 with each book building on the growing development of Lulu the Little.
Thank you to Author Lounge for giving me this platform to tell my own story.
“Super Big Brother: Finding Your Hero” is told primarily through the eyes of Lulu the Little who sees her big brother, Super Sam, as her hero. Sam’s red cape symbolizes strength and her teddy bear, who is always by Lulu the Little’s side, symbolizes security. Super Sam always saves the day and is right there for Lulu the Little as he helps, shares, shows caring and kindness every step of Lulu the Little’s learning day.
I began my writing journey ten years ago, and publishing seemed like a distant, unreachable goal.
Being a mom of two children is “super” important, but watching my children grow, guide each other, and share special bonds of kindness, supporting and sharing throughout their lives, has been truly amazing to see. I spent several years studying the interactions of my children, writing down their experiences, and forging them into themes for my book series. I realized sibling connection was an important bond that children need to be reminded of from as early an age as possible. This realization gave me the determination to write with delivering lessons in mind.
As I built on the stories, I would read them to my children at night, and they loved the fact that they were featured as characters in the books. They became my audience (and my advisers) and as new ideas developed, I would write more. As life inevitably happens, I would then put the writing down, not to touch the books again for months, until new ideas inspired me to begin again. These breaks away from the writing gave me fresh eyes and better focus, and the series just kept on growing from there.
After completing my tenth book in the series, I felt that the hardest part was over, but ironically, it was only the beginning. Publishing and illustrating truly became quite daunting, presenting challenges and difficult decisions that I hadn’t even considered.
Did I have what it takes to put my ideas out there and get published? Self-doubt played on my mind constantly.
Where to start?
It was by coincidence that I met Dan Drake. As this was the beginning of our friendship, I apprehensively asked if he could help me edit my books I had saved on my computer over the years. It was hard at first to share my work but I didn’t have anything to lose. With Dan in California and me in Washington State, each Friday night after work (I consult for small companies as a sales data analyst and data migration specialist), during COVID, on Zoom, we would spend an hour editing volumes of my books. Dan would excitedly begin each session curious to read the next book as Super Sam’s and Lulu the Little’s characters started to develop more and more.
This online collaborating went on for over a year–strangers brought together over a love for writing. It is really through Dan that I found that extra inspiration to take the next step. As we were so engrossed in the editing over the year, I made the decision to bring in another professional editor from England to complete a developmental proof. It was also good to get other opinions along the way. The stories were getting positive feedback, which again, inspired me to continue along the path to publish.
Now it really was starting to feel real.
When Blueberry Illustrations joined this journey, all of the pieces were moving into place. Blueberry Illustrations steered me through the unknown waters helping me professionally every step of the way with “Super Big Brother: Finding Your Hero.” From the beginning, I had imagined how I wanted my characters to look, and my illustrator did a fantastic job capturing what I had in my mind.
Phew!!! A sigh of relief as the sketches and then the colored illustrations started coming to life on the pages. All of a sudden, those words dancing in my mind all of these years were finally being presented to me in the way of my first book, now sold on Barnes and Noble , Amazon https://amzn.to/3Vd6lcl, and other online bookstores.
Super Sam and Lulu the Little have come to life on the pages, and these characters have so much more to offer, learn, and explore in the rest of the series. The next book starts publishing work in the next few weeks.
“Super Big Brother: Finding Your Hero” and the rest of the series doesn’t just focus on siblings but contains a wider message for all children. Everyone can find a hero or be a hero and show caring and kindness to a sibling, parent, grandparent, cousin, or friend.
The message is simple and perennial–the world is a better place when we learn to treat each other with kindness and respect.
Follow my book journey on www.deannabussadori.com
Thank you to Author Lounge for giving me this platform to tell my own story.
