BY AUTHOR PAM SAXELBY
My name is Pam Saxelby and I write Children’s Picture Books. After more than 20 years working with young children as a Pre-K teacher, I decided to try writing my own stories for kids.
I love young children and wanted to provide stories that speak to their emotional lives. I spent 25 years as a Pre-K teacher and have raised three kids of my own. This life experience has showed me that kids are wonderful people, and people in their own right. I wanted to provide books that speak to them and tap into their perspectives.
My first book, Max and Bear, speaks to the need of young children to have a trusted friend in their lives. I watched my grandson, Max, and his trusted bear have so many conversations and loving interactions. Bear became his go-to source for self-soothing. I think that kids need these opportunities to understand that they have power…power to know they can help themselves whenever they need it!
My second book, Josie the Great, is a sequel to Max and Bear. It tells the story from Max and Bear’s perspective on the arrival of a new baby. As adults, we think we are preparing children, but honestly, young children do not think the same way we do. They don’t have the life experiences for context. In Josie the Great, I try to tell the story with humor and grace about how a young child comes to terms with the addition of a new sibling in their space!
My third book, The Great Grace Escape, tells the story of a baby trying to figure out how to get out of the womb. My goal with this story is to, again, speak to children with humor and love about something we all have gone through! I also wanted to provide a format, and platform that is fun, funny, and not scary, for parents to address this important topic. I honestly don’t think there is another story like this, that speaks from a babies’ point of view!
With each story, I continued to fine-tune and develop my craft. I think writing is both a craft and an art. It’s necessary to find fun in what you are doing. In writing for children, I hope to make them smile and make the adults who read to them smile, too.
It’s fascinating to me that some days when I’m writing, the words just flow. Other days, not so much! I think finding the approach and the angle for each story is the part that evolves as I write and rewrite. I have so many drafts of each book! For one 36-page picture book, I have volumes of attempts.
When I decided to write, my biggest hope was to make something that children would love. That at the end of the story, they would say, “I like that book!” When I had my first opportunity to read Max and Bear to a group of children, and at the end of the story they told me they liked it…well… that was the absolute BEST feeling and review I could ever imagine.
As I go forward, and continue to write, I take into account that the audience I am writing for is wise, savvy and intelligent – they know what they like! I hope to continue to provide that with each story I write. My audiences deserves it!
Contact Pam Saxelby to arrange a Story Time:
(847) 819-4794 | pamsaxelby@gmail.com | pamsaxelby.com