The book We Serve Too! was inspired by Kathleen’s desire to provide a book for her grandchildren, when her son joined the army and later was deployed to Iraq. While passing a playground in town, seeing children climbing the nets, much as soldiers do in training, an idea sparked. It seemed a good place to start, to connect the common everyday experiences of children to the things their parent might be doing while deployed. Children love the familiar and find comfort in relating to the absent parent in this way.
Paula caught the vision for the story and suggested it be put into verse, which she masterfully accomplished. The rhyming and rhythm makes the book fun to read, while at the same time making it less tedious for the adult who will have to read it over and over! She also designed the layout of the pages to accentuate Kathleen’s clever and touching illustrations.
A major publisher showed interest in We Serve Too! if only the two authors would tone down the flag waving. Instead, Paula and Kathleen formed Wee The People Publishing, LLC and published We Serve Too! *themselves*. Graphic Designer, Ryan Edick (Kathleen’s son) of Redesigns reproduced, converted, and designed the work into the form necessary for production printing. The result is a quality book for our nations little heroes!
Our second book We Serve Too! Two! is a book that speaks to a child’s heart about reunion, that long anticipated day…and the not so easy days later. A third book about our Homecoming Box is now on the drawing table as is another, walking with a child through the homecoming of a wounded parent.
Our Coloring Book Military ABC is a fun way for children to learn the Military Alphabet and Color their favorite We Serve Too! characters.
Newly released is the first in our We Serve Too! Around the World coloring booklets. Sized to fit into pre-deployment kits, this booklet give children a taste of the culture and life of Afghanistan along with why the U.S. Military is there. Great for activities or even school projects.
Our mission is to honor the service of those who give much more to those of us here at home than we can ever give back. We hope to help children through a difficult time in a family’s life by acknowledging that *they* serve too, by honoring their sacrifice, and reminding them that their country is behind them.
We Serve Too! and We Serve Too!2 are designed with conversation between parent and child in mind. Anyone working with the child of a deployed soldier can use these books. In our parent section of the web site, there is a page by page discussion guide that a parent or other adult can use along side each book to help a child through this difficult time of separation.
While written with military children in mind, the books are also a valuable read for civilian children , giving them a glimpse into the unique life of a military family. They serve as a link between military and civilian families in our communities.
Besides, laughter and smiles, we have seen these books bring tears from time to time. Our prayer is that they may be healing tears that bring forth joy.
