Creating Christian Children’s Books that Share Your Unique Testimony
A sweet man recently contacted ChristianChildren’sAuthors.com. He has self-published the book Four Blue Shoes and Two Sticky Hands. His wife, Becky Anne Linskey, made the book before she went to be with the Lord at the young age of 47. During her life, she wrote and illustrated this story for her daughter. While the book will never become a best seller or win any literary awards, it provides a beautiful keepsake and honors the memory of a wonderful wife and mother. Becky’s husband also shares her testimony on the back pages of the book. Therefore, our team of authors felt that sharing the idea of self-publishing your own stories for family and friends may be something our followers would like to read.
After all, most of us began by writing stories and creating books for our own families. Janice Green, the founder of Christian Children’s Authors, wrote several family books and published them through Lulu.com. Likewise, Lori Scott‘s first book in her early chapter book series came from a story she wrote for her daughter and then pitched as a series at a writing conference. I began my author career by creating books for my kindergarten class and stories about my three daughters with StudentTreasures.com. Self-publishing has made it possible for anyone to develop children’s books. While that has only sometimes been good for the consumer looking for a quality story to share with children, it has provided an excellent way to share your testimony with family and friends.
Writing a book with or for your kids
Ironically, a mother contacted me just yesterday, wanting information about publishing the stories her daughter wrote. As many of you know, I also work for EA Books Publishing. They are a hybrid publisher and work with many authors who want to publish a Christian children’s book for family and friends. With so many self-publishing companies, finding one that will take your money and publish your story without the care and expertise it deserves is easy. However, if you want to use a children’s book to share your testimony, it should be done with the highest regard for quality. If you’re interested in this, I encourage you to email me at dstephens@eabookspublishing.com.
That said, I thought this would be a good time to share some Christian Children’s Books written to honor our families and share our testimonies.
Children’s Books that Honor Family Members and Share Testimonies
Lena’s Zinnias by Missy Rolfe.
This children’s book honors Missy’s grandmother and her love for Zinnias. Missy’s grandmother’s legacy is why she now owns a flower truck, Honeybee Flower Boutique, and the Flower Truck Friends Podcast. Creating this children’s book allowed Missy to share about her Grandmother’s life. Missy’s daughter illustrates the book. This sweet story teaches about the beauty of family and sharing joy with those around us.
God is Always Chasing After You: With Smiles to Share by Kelly May Harris.
This Christian children’s book is formatted as a collection of letters and stories. Kelly shares some of her and her family’s journey through critical illness and the loss of her daughter, Kayla, and her mother, Debra.
Stephen and his wife Sandra have been in full-time ministry for over 20 years, involved in children, youth, outreach, and foster care ministry. They have fostered 18 children over the years and have adopted 10. This book tells the story of a young foster boy who is hurting. Many people in his life have broken their promises. He’s confused, scared, and doesn’t trust adults. Stephen wrote the book to help readers find the one who never breaks His promises.
The Jacob’s Journey Books by Tracy Felix
In 2012, a baby was born. His life would be different and full of doctor visits. His mom, Tracy, knew his story HAD to be told! She now shares about his life and encourages others with disabilities by writing Children’s books about Jacob.
The Little Pot books by Dawn Stephens
Lastly, I’ll share how my books illustrate my testimony. At a time when I was desperately searching for how to serve God best, I began creating a story about a little pot wanting to hold things and be used by the Potter. I knew that this little vessel was based on my questions. I had no idea how the story (and my quest for answers) would end. Then, I was asked to find a Christian children’s book to illustrate how we are to grow the fruit of the Spirit. As I searched, I felt God impress on me that my story of The Little Pot was the one I should choose. However, it was not about the fruit of the Spirit at all. Then God showed me that the purpose of this little vessel was not to hold things but to allow the potter to grow fruit through it. I rearranged some events in the story and saw how God allowed me to share my testimony through its pages. After that, I could continue to write about my journey with Christ in additional Christian children’s books.
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Thank you for sharing these beautiful stories, Dawn. And thank you for encouraging writers to publish quality books. It’s a lot of work, time, and money, but if you want to publish a book, it needs to be done right.
Thank you Dawn for these encouraging words and helpful information for writers.
Thank you for writing this wonderful post. You did a great job, and I trust more of our readers will be inspired to write family stories as well.
Thank you for honoring the wish of this sweet man to have his wife’s book mentioned on CCA. Our children and grandchildren do inspire our writing. Sometimes to be shared with the one, the few, or the world.