ORLAND PARK, IL — Like anybody else in his place, Brian Sullivan desires the perfect for his grandchildren. He desires them to be blissful and wholesome and is blissful to be a part of these entrusted with serving to elevate the three kids and he hopes — if he’s fortunate — he can educate them some helpful classes alongside the way in which.
However for the long-time Orland Park resident and retired author and editor, Sullivan desires to present them one thing extra.
That’s the place the Grandpa Collection got here to be — a collection of two, quickly to be three, youngsters’s books which are impressed by every of his grandchildren. Like many aspiring authors, the need to write down and have a ebook printed has lengthy been on the wishlist for Sullivan, who had hoped to write down a ebook for his youngsters after they have been youthful.
However when life on the time didn’t present that chance greater than 30 years in the past, retirement life re-opened the window for Sullivan to present this reward to his three grandkids. He hopes within the course of that he can encourage mother and father and others who spend time round youngsters they love, and that they will take a few of the classes that come by means of the pages of the books he has created.
Sullivan’s second ebook, “Lilah Loves Life” was launched on Thursday on Amazon and follows the Grandpa Collection’ first ebook, “Beau Wants To Know”, which was printed in 2020, impressed by the oldest of the three grandchildren, Beau, who’s now 5. In time, Sullivan hopes to make the collection a trilogy with a ebook devoted to a different granddaughter, who’s now simply 2.
“Every one in all these is a labor of affection,” Sullivan instructed Patch on Thursday. “I simply wished to present them one thing that no person else might give them. Whether or not it sells massive numbers shouldn’t be my largest concern. What my largest concern is that I wrote these books for them.”
He added: “It’s simply one thing I wished to do for them.”
Every of the books relies on the character traits of his grandchildren, whom Sullivan has fallen in love with since their delivery. Sullivan serves as the youngsters’s caretaker in the future per week, which has offered him a front-row seat of their improvement, which has offered him with the inspiration for every of the books.
Beau, for instance, is extraordinarily inquisitive. He must know the way issues work, or how the items of mechanical gear match collectively to make it work. With questions he cannot have answered, Beau makes use of his creativeness to conjure up an answer to satisfy his wants.
Lilah however is a joyful little woman who has a continuing smile on her face and sees one of the best in everybody. For her ebook, Sullivan wished to seize what the day within the lifetime of a little bit woman like Lilah would possibly seem like and what comes out of a life lived to its fullest, and when youngsters discover a solution to embrace every second they’re given.
The ebook has already climbed to No. 5 on Amazon’s listing of New Releases for kids’s books and has already been honored with a Mother’s Alternative Award. It has been licensed as a terrific learn by the “Studying With Your Youngsters” podcast and has already gotten a great deal of consideration regardless of solely being launched on Thursday.
Whereas his grandchildren function the inspiration for the tales Sullivan creates, there’s additionally a component of inventive license on his half. The characters embrace lots of the traits of Beau and Lilah, however Sullivan additionally makes use of his storytelling abilities to craft a ebook that he labored on in each circumstances for the higher a part of a yr or extra to good earlier than turning them over to be printed.
Sullivan says that the delivery of his three grandchildren rekindled his need to write down books. He says that each one of his grandchildren like to learn, and he wished them to have one thing that they impressed and that would supply them with a tangible object that reminds them how a lot they’re beloved by their grandpa.
Whereas gross sales aren’t the target of the books, Sullivan hopes that the tales promote nicely sufficient to permit the books to get into the fingers of adults elevating youngsters who can use the tales as examples of what a high quality life would possibly seem like.
With the primary ebook, he hopes that youngsters be taught to like studying and be taught the worth of asking questions. With the newly launched ebook about his granddaughter, Sullivan hopes youngsters be taught to embrace every day and perceive the worth of venturing away from screens and right into a world of play and journey the place they will take pleasure in being open air and surrounding themselves with issues and people who make them smile.
For Sullivan, writing about his grandchildren has confirmed to be a significant expertise. Whereas the books are impressed by the three younger individuals, he nonetheless seems to be at them as people and never as the subject material for a ebook. He says that every of them has their very own character that he has fallen in love with and that has given him a deeper appreciation for who they’re as individuals.
“This has made me treasure them much more than I did earlier than,” Sullivan instructed Patch. “As soon as I noticed how particular every of them is, that’s a really good feeling once you recognize them for them, for who they really are and never as a ebook topic.”
