Help Jada Publish Her 2nd Book for Pre-K/KG Kids!

Illustration, design, and writing are very close to my heart. Over the last year, a family friend asked if I could write and illustrate a children’s book about her son, Simon, and dog, Ted. I agreed because I thought that creating a book would not only be a good opportunity but an interesting and challenging experience.

During the process of writing and illustrating the book, I learned about an issue that was happening close to home. My community is highly impoverished and is essentially a book desert; children often do not have access to literature. A reading coalition was established to offer more resources to residents many years ago, but there continues to be concern about the illiteracy rate in the community. I have always believed that access to books can help provide a positive reading experience at home with loved ones.

In addition to creating the book for little Simon, I wanted to share my work with my community to help combat the book desert. There are 1,200 preschool and kindergarten students attending Springfield City School District and I set a goal to ensure that every single student received their very own book.

After finishing the book and presenting it to Simon on his first birthday, I began a fundraiser through an online crowdfunding campaign site. The donations were intended to cover the cost of printing and shipping 1,500 boards books, with plans of distributing them to students by the end of the school year (May 2018). I also researched copyright and International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) and secured both for the book. I had decided to self-publish my work. After the project was fully funded in two weeks, the proofs were approved and the books were printed and shipped, just in time for the student’s end of the year celebrations.

In May 2018, I donated books to 1,200 preschool and kindergarten students at the Springfield City School District.  I also donated 100 books to students attending HeadStart. Seeing how happy the children were when they received the books inspired me to continue creating works and giving them away.

During the 2018 summer, I was able to send 25 copies of my book to Ethiopia to add to a library of resources to teach English to students in a local school. I also had the opportunity to present my project to a group of more than 300 educators at a national education conference in Chicago last summer, in an effort to translate my work to project-based learning opportunities for the K-12 classroom.

I have just finished illustrating and writing my second book, "Simon & Ted's Space Trip," a sequel, which I will donate to more children in another high-needs school district in Greene County.  I will be donating this second book to Pre-K and KG students at Fairborn City Schools and Xenia Community Schools. 

I have requested the fundraising amount listed above to pay for the following:

Budget:
Printing of 1,500 Books and Shipping Costs = $5,150
Self-Publishing Costs for Copyright and ISBN = $185
Miscellaneous Mailing Costs Associated with Publishing = $200
GoFundMe Fees = 2.9% + $.30 per donation (approximately $200)

Funds will be transferred to me to pay for the book printing from Pint Size Productions as well as reimburse the cost of the copyright and ISBN number for the second book (I had to purchase these prior to printing the book).

My mission is to continue giving away my books to as many children as I can in high-need communities in order to supplement access to literature.  Any help you can give is appreciated more than you can ever know.  The request of a family friend has indeed changed my life forever!