As a proud Montrosian, I love exciting ways to share the Catholic faith with young children. My sister, Nicole Abi-Kheirs, not only enjoys this as well but has made it her mission to advocate the Catholic religion for kids and to help explain Catholic concepts to children ages 4-8. Nicole has written two books, and has even won awards for her books; this includes both the 2012 Christopher Award and a Catholic Press Association Award in the children/teens division.
My sister has given interviews and talks on the various Catholic networks as well as multiple radio, blog, and podcast interviews. In addition to this, Nicole frequently gives presentations to children at libraries, bookstores, schools and churches. I have often had the honor of helping out with these events, and it is an absolute joy to see the reactions of all the kids during her interactive, kid-friendly presentations.
Her first book, entitled Forever You: A Book about Your Body and Soul is designed to help explain the concept of a soul, the most crucial aspect to our human nature, to children ages 4-8. This book was translated into Spanish, entitled “Siempre Tu.” Watch this interview with Nicole.
Her second book,I Forgive You, received the 2014 Catholic Writer’s Guide Seal of Approval. The second book emphasizes the Catholic-focused points that direct young children both how to forgive and how to prevent bullying. This book was designed specifically to help young Catholics learn more about what the Church teaches on forgiveness, how to truly forgive, and how to identify bullying.
I Forgive You encourages young children to embrace and share the healing power of forgiveness. It helps children choose forgiveness by encouraging them to be ready to hear, ask for, and say, “I forgive you.” I Forgive You uses kid-friendly text and images to communicate the most difficult concepts of forgiveness, such as grace, anger, contrition, redemption, and reconciliation. The book brings forgiveness to life, using vivid analogies that offer concrete and clear actions for kids to take. Watch another interview with Nicole about her latest book.
My sister was destined to be a writer even before she could walk. My parents often recount the story of how Nicole would get a “timeout” when she was little, so she would write apologies in the forms of poems from our balcony railing and “paper airplane” them down to my parents. Nicole notes “As a child, I read countless picture books and at some point, realized that I was determined to write my own someday. Although I knew that I wanted to write children’s books, I did not pursue it formally until I entered college. As a freshman in college, I took a Children’s Literature course and realized that if I wanted to write children’s books, I needed to get serious about the craft!”
When asked what inspired her to pursue writing, Nicole responded, “I taught chastity to middle school students and came across a 6th grader who commented that it was ‘too late’ to save himself for marriage. This shocked me, and I knew I needed to relate the Theology of the Body concepts to children at a much younger age.”
These childrens’ books were written with a purpose in mind. She said, “Starting at an early age, kids are curious about their existence as human beings. At the primary stage, they wonder about where they came from, who they are as individuals, and how they fit into this world. As adults, it is often difficult to find the right words to explain these complex ideas to children in a way that they can relate to. In this critical period of individual identity formation, finding those ‘right words’ is all the more essential. Adults will find this resource to be helpful in explaining the concept of a “soul” to children.”
The publishing process is both long and arduous, but ultimately rewarding. Nicole notes, “I am a traditionally published author. There are two types of publishing: traditional and self-publishing. Traditionally publishing a book of any kind takes the average writer over 10 years to do, if at all. It requires arduous research, thousands of hours of dedicated reading and writing time, time and effort spent attending conferences and perfecting the craft; and, after all that, a bit of luck. Regarding children’s literature, one interesting fact about publishing a children’s book is that 99% of the time, the author and the illustrator do not work together to create the completed project.”