Prepare to Care

[Almitra29]

Prepare to Care:  stories of inspiration, for children, about children, around the world.

   I have been a professional artist for over 15 years. Last year I wrote and illustrated a bedtime story for children about lucid dreaming. Shortly after I began that book, entitled, “Tonight…I Will Fly” I realized that I had found my calling in life. No other artwork that I had previously created had ever given me the feelings of fulfillment and joy that this work did. My passion had been lit but I don’t want to write just any kind of children’s books, nothing about bouncy blue bears, or fuzzy wuzzy bunnies. Those are fine for entertaining children but I think that a story for children can have so much more depth and vision. I think there are important things that have happened or are happening around the world that children need to learn and know about. Stories that can inspire and expand a child’s world view and their place in it; allegorical stories that share the hopes and dreams, as well as the challenges and sadness that children not only survive but overcome and can still find the ability to smile, sing and dance again. My goal is that if kids can be introduced to children from all around the world at a very young age, they can mature having the seeds of humanitarianism already sown. I want to express the face; the heart and soul, behind our grandmothers chide “clean your plate, there’s starving children in Africa.” I want them to learn, even before they are ten, what it means to “Free Tibet”. I have no interest in religious connotations and political stance; I just want to open their hearts and minds by teaching how other kids live and love. Conclusions are not for me to draw.