Is it sad that I don’t remember where the idea for The Dragon Child came from? With most of my mid-grade or picture book ideas I can pinpoint the night I made up the story to tell my daughters before bed. Or that one time we sat in the water of the creek behind our house taking turns making up stories about the dragon flies landing by us. But with Dragon Child, it’s been a story I’ve been working on for so long I can’t pinpoint its origin. I hope that doesn’t take away from the feeling behind it for my readers (I really want to have readers). I hope not being able to remember the origin doesn’t make me less of a writer in their eyes.

I stand by the idea behind it though.. It’s all about choosing your own family. Not everyone will need to encounter that in their life. Some people are born into families that love and accept them. And that is fabulous. But others are not so lucky. Some people are born into families that will just never get them, and for those people it is important to choose a family. One that will support and love you just the way you are. And that’s the theme of the Dragon Child, and it will continue on to the second of the series as well. I hope this is what readers get from the story.

Because it’s important to me. And I really want people, especially kids, to hear that. That even if you feel unloved right now, later in your life you can go and find people who will love you. Who will accept you for who you are and won’t ask you to change to suit their needs.

As you can tell I’m passionate about the subject. With every bit of mid-grade and picture book writing I do, the general theme that prevails is to be yourself and not to let others dictate who you are. It is my hope that people who read my stories, be it a child or an adult, come away with that little bit of happiness in accepting who they are supposed to be.

About Sherilyn Putnam:

Sherilyn Putnam is the pen name of an author who decided holding in the stories for younger people just wasn’t an option. Thus a whole new persona emerged, ready to share her love of fantastical beings and adventurous characters with the young readers of the world. Sherilyn is almost exactly like the ‘other’ author, being she lives in the deep South, has two daughters, a hero husband and lives in a tiny house ruled by two insane cats and a miniature dachshund with a Napoleon complex.

Her books for young readers almost always have the same message, one she feels very strongly about, “be who you are, not who others think you should be.”

Find Out More About Sherilyn Putnam:

https://www.facebook.com/sherilynputnam
https://twitter.com/SherilynPutnam
https://sherilynputnam.wordpress.com/