An Accomplishment Worth Sharing

My seven year old son and I have been sitting on an idea for the last two years and managed to successfully keep it under wraps. We recently published our first book!! I must say, it's a very surreal feeling for me and for him it's just sheer excitement and non-stop telling everyone he meets, even folks in line at the local grocery store, the bank drive thru, the doctor's office. He is so proud! We have worked on the project together in my spare time, which is next to non-existent as a mother and entrepreneur (I'm sure that many of you can relate) and it is very rewarding to see it come to completion. The children’s book titled “The Cordial Cricket” named after our retail store, tells the story of a young cricket who learns a valuable lesson about what it means to be “cordial” during the planning of his birthday party. My son, who is currently in first grade and an avid artist, drew the cover illustration for our debut children’s book, which was released this week and is now available for sale.

This turned out to be a wonderful and rewarding project for my son and I. We are both very excited to share it with other children and hope that they will enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed working on it. The short chapter book is geared toward children from pre-school age to early elementary, whether read aloud or enjoyed by children learning to read on their own. The subject matter of the books is very fitting as I also teaches etiquette classes for children at my retail store and because teaching children proper etiquette and timeless values such as writing thank you notes is a subject very close to my heart. My mother made certain that I knew and valued these skills, which still serve me very well today.

I am thrilled beyond words to have already been contacted by several local schools in central Virginia to come and read to their students (since I leaked word of the book a few days ago, oops!). I plan to donate copies of the book to their school libraries. My son and I have also decided to donate $2.00 from the sale of every book to the Richmond SPCA, a charity which he chose. He is a true animal lover and this will be a great way for him to give back something tangible and know that it helps local animals without homes. We couldn’t think of a more fitting way to share some of the proceeds from our project.

The book is now available for sale at our store, The Cordial Cricket in Chester, VA and in our online store located at www.thecordialcricket.com. Two book signing events have been scheduled thus far, one on Saturday, May 8th and one on Saturday, June 5th, both at 11:00 at our retail store in Chester, VA. During both events there will be a children’s story time and my son and I will both sign copies of the book for those who attend.

Thank you very much to everyone who has already shown tremendous support for our new accomplishment!