We’re making a board book!

So, we’re taking a little break from Come Follow Me this week. We figured, since we’ve already written on King Benjamin’s sermon, this week would be the perfect time to announce our newest project:

We’re making a board book!

It’s something we’ve wanted to do ever since Clarence has become interested in books. Our favorites (and his) are the ones that are tender, affirming, and that teach some sort of meaningful truth beyond colors and numbers. So, with that intent, we wrote out the text for a little book about grace. Here’s what we have:

This is a present. It’s like a birthday present. But it’s from God. Go ahead. Open it.

We don’t know what’s inside.

There will certainly be beautiful things, like sunflowers, or the sun, or popsicles dripping in the sun. And you will reach in to see what else is inside.

But there will also be bad things, like bad grades, or bad friends, or a bad heart. And you will want to close this gift and stop its giving.

I hope there’s health and a long life. And it’s okay to hope. And it’s okay to be disappointed.

But whatever is inside, it is a gift. So don’t worry. Go ahead. Unwrap it.

And we will say “Thank you God” together.

And know that His grace will be enough.

It’s sweet, right? We knew we wanted the book to teach something besides who’s who in the Book of Mormon, or where different temples are located (there are already some adorable board books that do that). Instead, we are hoping to explore something more essential and, we hope, explore it beautifully for both babies and parents.

Anyway, now that we’ve got a basic text, here’s our next steps. Lauren Blair, our collage artist who has been working with us on the project from the beginning, is already working on illustrations for it. There will be ten. We are working with her in designing page layouts and such, like you see below:

It’s still a work in progress. Once we have the book designed exactly like we want, we’ll send it off for printing.

But before then, we’re struggling with a few decisions.

First, a title. Here’s a few we’re debating between:

                A Little Book about Grace

                Grace, a Definition

                From God, with Love

Any preferences? Or other ideas? We’re eager to hear.

Second, where do we sell? Should we open a shop on the website? If so, should we also make other prints available for sale there? Is that something you would be interested in?

Let us know what you think about title, sales, text, etc. We’d love to hear your ideas.

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