WHAT WILL I BE, FROM A TO Z?

Congratulations! It’s a book!

My newest picture book, WHAT WILL I BE, FROM A TO Z? had its book birthday yesterday, July 1, 2025, and I’m still riding high off the excitement!

The concept for this book came to me in 2017, back when my kiddo was only a few years old and I was up to my eyeballs in alphabet blocks, picture books, and lesson plans for my job as a history teacher at a STEM school. What initially started as only a few stanzas dedicated to introducing children to different STEM job changed dramatically over the next year, morphing from around 10 stanzas to 26 – one job for each letter of the alphabet. Even more importantly – I made a point to incorporate the arts, too, turning STEM into STEAM. I loved it, and I knew how valuable it’d be for lower elementary grades as a thoughtful and fun and imaginative instructional tool.

This manuscript actually got me my first agent in 2018, and when that didn’t work out, it also brought me my second (and current) agent, Vicki Selvaggio of Storm Literary Agency. In early 2020, 3 YEARS after I wrote that first draft, an offer of publication from Familius press landed in my inbox one quiet Sunday afternoon. I couldn’t believe it. Someone – specifically Brooke Jorden and Christopher Robbins – wanted to turn this collection of bouncy rhymes into an actual book with actual illustrations to go on actual bookshelves! I was ecstatic. I was even more ecstatic when I found out Familius also wanted to publish a second manuscript – A STEMINIST FORCE. And then when they told me they’d hired the same wonderful illustrator (Anna Doherty) for both? I was over the moon! And then the waiting began – lots and lots of waiting. Have I ever mentioned how slow publishing moves? Throw a global pandemic into the process, and it moves slower than slow! But hey, look at this cover that Anna created – GORGEOUS, right?

Fast forward to yesterday. One pandemic, one book release for A STEMINIST FORCE (2024), and 5 years later, WHAT WILL I BE, FROM A TO Z? was released into the wild! We celebrated its release at a fantastic local bookstore, Blue Apple Bookshop, and I had a wonderful time signing copies for friends, family, and new readers. It’s surreal that it’s finally here in my hands (and readers’ hands!), and I’m so incredibly grateful. This longing I’ve had to write books since I was a child has produced fruit – tangible fruit with beautiful illustrations, cover art, ISBNs, and sales listings. I hope I never lose my sense of appreciation and wonder for exactly how amazing this is.

I’ll be posting a new teacher’s guide and coloring sheets soon to go along with this book. Stay tuned! In the meantime, help me celebrate by purchasing a copy for a young reader (or teacher) in your life! I’d be so appreciative!