The first time I thought I could write and illustrate my own children's picture book.

I never considered writing and illustrating storybooks for children until I started reading picture books to my own child. I found it so refreshing to see how simple, beautiful and completely effective they can be.

The books that first ignited the thought that I could write and illustrate personalized books for my little girl were the Sam series of books written by Barbro Lindgren and illustrated by Eva Eriksson. This series of books are about a little boy called Sam (or Max if you are reading them in their original language, Swedish) who has very every day adventures.

The books are written with so much humour and love I couldn’t help but fall in love with them. My daughter, who was a toddler when I first read them to her, also fell in love with them. She loved to read about someone who had the same challenges as she did and that was when the idea came to me that I should write and illustrate a picture book just about her, one in which she could recognise her own life and experiences.

And so I did.

And of course I can’t recommend enough the process of writing and illustrating a book and then the absolute joy of sharing it with your little one. Yes, this is where I get all gushy so I’d better stop here.

Oh, and by the way, my little boy who is 20 months has also just discovered the joy of the Sam books and it is just as much fun reading them the second time around.

For those of you visiting my blog for the first time, if you would like to read a couple of the books I have written and illustrated for my children please click on the title of this blog post and you will be taken to my free Create A Book For A Child membership site for inspired mums, dads, grandparents and teachers who like to create books for their children.