East graduate writes children’s book
More stories from McKayla Vermeer
East alumna Breanna Hollis recently wrote, illustrated and published a children’s book entitled “The Life of Link,” that follows a story of a frog throughout its life. Hollis graduate from East in 2014. Her book can be purchased on Amazon for $15.
Q: What was your experience like writing this book?
A: My experience in writing this book was very challenging. I started writing this book because I was in a practicum for becoming a teacher, and the kids were learning life cycles. I thought how great of a resource this would be for teaching life cycles. So, I started by writing the storyline of the story and I knew I wanted to write about something that had a lot of stages. I edited and revised my writing a few times and had others look at it just to make sure it would make sense to kids. Then I started the illustrating process. This took the most time out of everything. The illustrations took about a year to complete. Then it took a couple months to figure out how to self-publish.
Q: What is the basis of your story?
A: The life cycle of a frog from the frog’s view.
Q: What were you hoping to accomplish by publishing your book?
A: Just putting out a resource for teachers to use while teaching while it also being appealing for kids to look like. Most informational text is non-fiction with photographs. In first-grade, most kids are interested in colorful illustrations, so I tried to create to the teacher’s needs, and the students’ wants.
Q: Are you planning on writing any more books in the future?
A: Yes, I hope to make similar books with other living things.
Q: What made you decide that you wanted to write a book?
A: It honestly was out of nowhere. I was just making something for me to use and a lot of my family and friends told me I needed to get that out in the world for others to use it.
Q: Do you have future plans to continue writing?
A: I do have plans for continuing to write books. I have been offered two other jobs for illustrating children’s books.
Q: Have you considered writing other genres?
A: I haven’t really thought about it. I know I would love to stick in the world of children’s books, but I guess it really depends where this takes me. I am sure I will work through other genres, but I will always make the bright and colorful illustrations.