I’d like to take this time to officially announce that I’m writing a children’s book with my son. We started writing it a few years back. I just finished putting together a query letter, which I’m sending to Kregel Publications. I’m sharing it with you now to get some honest feedback.
Please leave a comment if this is a story that you would have liked read to you as a child or if you would like to read it to your child or if you are about 10 years of age or older and you, yourself, would like to read it.
Excerpt from query letter
My book addresses the question of what do you get when you put Jesus in the jungle? The answer: A sage guide who protects and provides for those under his watch. Nathanael is a 10-year-old boy who dreams of adventure, although (like most kids), he fears the dark and the unknown. What Nate doesn’t know is that he’s about to embark on the journey of a lifetime in an African rainforest befriending a hilarious chimpanzee and a protective indigenous tribe, as well as standing his ground against a sneaky snake and a massive lion who is stalking him. Facing these fears with Jesus in the Congo empowers him to face his fear of the dark (back home).
Imagining Jesus is about practicing the presence of God for children by empowering them to use their God-given imagination at the highest level to help them overcome their fears. Fear stifles creativity. But practicing the presence of God—imagining Jesus in personalized circumstances—fosters unconditional love, freeing the imagination to do what it does best: create, inspire and invoke wonder. In the Epilogue, the reader is “encouraged to practice the presence of God in a unique situation that is special to [her].”