BOOKSTORE â—½ TIPS
Writing is something I always wanted to do, but it’s also something I never did. Because, life gets in the way, as life tends to do, and the only writing I’d accomplished in the decades since college was a few well-crafted work emails. Until one day when I found myself sitting alone in my first-grade classroom. The kids were outside at recess and I’d just returned from dropping them off. We’d been working on a cut/glue type project before lining up to go outside.
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Glancing around the room I saw what remains when busy six-year-olds are on the move. Glue bottles left open and tipped on their sides with white drops drip-drip-dripping all over the desk. Multiple orange glue stick lids rolling all around the floor. Not to mention there’s always at least one kid that manages to squeeze out half the glue bottle - creating a globby, sticky mess. Enough, I thought! We needed a lesson on glue responsibility! So, I did what any good teacher would do and searched for a book on the topic that we could read together and jumpstart a conversation on how we should take care of our glue.
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​But I couldn’t find one. The only glue books I did find seemed to encourage the messiness (now I’m not against messiness, but there’s a time and place…)!
Hmmm…what was I going to do? My gaze was immediately drawn to the quote I had hanging in my classroom’s writing center. Toni Morrison said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
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So, I did.
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I grabbed my teacher planner, found a blank page and started listing ideas. What kinds of things did I want them to remember about glue bottles? What problems did we always seem to have with glue sticks? I thought about how to give each school supply a personality the kids would fall in love with. They might not remember to close the lid on a random glue bottle, but if it’s their friend, “Bottle” who sleeps in a bunk bed, they’ll make sure he’s treated right!
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After I had my story worked out, I made a paper book. I only ever intended to use this book with the students in my classroom, which I did for several years. And guess what? It worked. I went from begging parents in January to please send in more glue because our classroom supply had already run out, to years of having extra glue leftover at the end of the year! The kids were loving Bottle & Stick and they were really beginning to treat their school supplies with care.
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Other teachers started noticing the extra glue in my cabinets and wanted to know the secret. My little paper book started making its way through the kindergarten and first grade classrooms! The other teachers encouraged me to get it published. Fear (of rejection, that people would laugh at me) initially discouraged me from moving forward, but God gave me the courage to go for it. So, I began to research the publishing process. After a few years of sending my manuscript to different publishers (and lots of disappointment), Bottle and Stick was published in 2021 with Scissors following in 2022.
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Initially my purpose for writing each book was to teach kids how to use school supplies correctly. But knowing teachers/busy adults would be the purchasers I wanted each book to have a layered theme. This allows classroom teachers to revisit the book multiple times during the school year. But these books aren’t only suited for school. Parents and grandparents love reading them with the children in their life because Bottle and Stick focuses on the importance of friends sticking together, being brave, as well as learning the glue rules. And Scissors shows us to embrace our uniqueness, believe in ourselves, and to use scissors safely. Happy reading.
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Bottle and Stick
by Jennifer Stephens
