As a part of my 10th Grade Personal Project, I wrote and illustrated a children’s book in order to educate young children about environmental sustainability. Inspired by my service group called Reefkeepers, I named my book Rosie the Reefkeeper. The book tells the story of a superhero, Rosie, as she works with her SuperTeam to save the oceans from Plastic Pete and his army of plastics. At the end of the book, I included a note to parents and teachers suggesting activities to do with students in order for them to start being environmentally conscious.
The Reefkeepers!
However the book I made remained on a shelf in my house since then and other than reading it to a preschool class, I did not get to share it. Therefore my CAS Project was to publish and distribute the book around Sri Lanka.
Check out my book here: Rosie the Reefkeeper
At the beginning of the process, I researched ways to get my book published in Sri Lanka. I considered self-publishing, however, it would have been difficult to organize printing because I had printed one copy for my exhibition in 10th grade and it was difficult to coordinate. Therefore finding someone to help me with knowledge of the process was important. I landed on Jam Fruit Tree Publications and I reached out to them through email and sent an online copy and we sent up a phone call. We discussed the options for printing and translation, as I hope to get it published in different languages to increase the impact in Sri Lanka. I also met with my publisher at their office in order to see samples for the type of paper, cover, binding, and printing available. We also discussed the ways to promote the book after it is published through social media and bookstores. We decided on first publishing the English version then later following with Sinhala and Tamal translated versions.
My publisher and I (Photo credit: Anne Heese)
On March 30th, the books got printed! I picked up about 100 copies to sell through school. Working with Reefkeepers, we will advertise and sell copies at school.