꒰(˶• ᴗ •˶)꒱ Weaverville Primary School (WVPS) kindergarteners got unique access to the world of children’s literature when local author and illustrator Jean Ann Taylor showed them her unfinished book and described her process.
As they sat in the reading corner of the WVPS media center on Monday, students looked with awe at the hand-drawn illustrations on Taylor’s manuscript for her unfinished work “Be Brave, Alice,” about an axolotl who’s just starting school.
“I'm getting it ready for my publisher,” she said. “So you're going to see that there are words crossed out or maybe some problems that I have to fix. But guess what? You guys are the first ones in the whole wide world to hear the story.”
Taylor has authored several children’s story books and coloring books. For her first book, “The Little Girl Who Loves to Twirl,” she hired an illustrator, but later she taught herself how to draw. She said she wants to inspire kids to never give up on their dreams.
“I want them to think ‘I can make something happen if I keep working on it. It doesn’t matter where I’m from or how I grew up. I can do it,’” she said.