Sandra Kay Chambers is a delightful children’s author and one of our blog followers. Just two weeks ago, another one of her fun books hit the shelves, and kids are going to love it! I caught up with Sandra recently and asked her to tell us about her new book. This is what she said:

Please tell us a little about yourself and your writing:

I’m a wife, mother, (soon to be grandmother!), former teacher, travel writer, journalist, and a non-fiction and children’s author. I self-published a book on prayer in 2014 and considered myself more of a non-fiction author. But when COVID hit and I wasn’t writing travel or magazine stories, I decided to try writing a picture book about my daughter just for fun. At the same time, I discovered some interesting facts about our fingerprints—how unique they are and how fingerprints are taken and used. I began to save those resources and felt the urge from God to write a devotional for kids comparing how unique our fingerprints are to how God has uniquely created each one of us and given us unique gifts and talents. That book, Fingerprint Devotions: 40 Devotions to Help You Realize You are Uniquely Created by God for a Purpose, (aged 8-12) launched last November 2023 by Ambassador International Publishers. This devotional was the inspiration for my new picture book on the same theme of fingerprints.

Tell us about your new book:

Maisie Discovers Her Fingerprint launched October 1, 2024, also by Ambassador International Publisher. This book is about an adorable French bulldog (my actual grand puppy) who just wants to feel special. She’s chubby, can’t swim well like her doggie friends, and never gets invited to doggie sleepovers because she snores! When she finds out that humans have unique fingerprints, she goes on a search to discover if she has unique fingerprints so she can feel special. The book is sort of a STEM fiction book that talks about animals that do have unique fingerprints. The back matter also gives 10 fun facts about fingerprints geared to younger kids.

What was special about writing this book:

This book was so much fun to write because while the story is fiction, it’s based on my real-life grand puppy, Maisie Mae, and my daughter Sarah. I wrote the story just for fun for my family and they loved it so much that they encouraged me to pursue publishing it. The publishing process was also fun because Ambassador International is a small press that’s been around a long time. I had lots of artistic input for the book’s illustrations which was nice since I wanted the dog in the book to look like our Maisie.

What message do you want readers to take away?

My message to kids in both books is that they are special. They don’t need to be like anyone else to be special or to be loved. They are created by God, one-of-kind, and have unique gifts and talents to serve Him and others.

What age is the target audience:

My Fingerprint Devotions is for ages 8-10, while my new picture book, Maisie Discovers Her Fingerprint is for ages 3-8. I believe we need to help children recognize that they are special early in life because God created them to be unique. Children may identify with Maisie’s feelings of not being special, and in the book’s back matter there’s a discussion question to address those feelings. There are also 10 fun Fingerprint Facts. I also have a free, downloadable activity packet to go with both books on my website: (https://sandrakaychambers.com). You can find out more about me and writing there as well.

My new book is available at Amazon (https://amzn.to/3zcz1vI); B&N, and other outlets as a hardback, paperback, & kindle.

Thank you, Sandra for telling us the story behind the story. Our followers enjoying getting those sneak peeks into the writing process.
We are all uniquely created by God—each with our own set of fingerprints—even a French bulldog!

Crystal

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