One Wants to Be a Letter($15.87Value)

Description

One Wants to be a Letter: A children’s book about learning to embrace your uniqueness! 1 really liked his letter friends, but now 1 loved being a number! Journey to a colorful world where letters and numbers come alive! Our main character One is a number, whose friends are all letters, and One didn’t want to be different. What person hasn’t felt like this at some point in their lives? One tried hard to become a letter, but in the end, he found out that being a number was pretty cool! There is a bit of a prophecy here, as the author Jake Marrazzo was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy when he was eight years old and lost his ability to walk when he was twelve. Struggling with physical challenges Jake still wanted to be just like everyone else. Yet now, he embraces what makes him unique, which is a lesson we should all learn! A portion of the proceeds from the book sales will go to the 4 Jake’s Sake Charitable Foundation which helps families living with Duchenne make their homes accessible. "Jake has created a story about finding -- and accepting -- your true self. A terrific book for our times!" -- Jeff Kinney When I'm asked how I feel about the success of my book,  One Wants to be Letter,  my mind often blanks, and I don't know how to answer the question. The answer is that I feel good, but a lot of the time, I'm not sure how to elaborate. Probably because I tend to overthink almost everything. So, I'm going to interview myself.  What do I feel good about?  I feel good that this book could open up the imagination of young kids. I was 4 years old when I came up with the idea of One, and would frequently come up with ideas for books and movies. A lot of my ideas were heavily based on other books and movies I had seen. I do remember coming up with an idea called Galaxy Wars. When I was young, I drew on what I knew.  When did I come up with the idea for the book?  I don't remember the exact moment I came up with the story as it was 13 years ago. I do remember coming down to my dad in the morning and telling him about the idea. I described a story where the number One wants to be his friends, who are all letters. We began coming up with ideas. My imagination flourished and I had a lot of inspiration.  How does it feel to be an author?  I hope that this story can give kids the inspiration to create as I did. I discovered and created. I felt very excited to see the book come together after the project resurfaced. Seeing the final drawings for the first time felt incredible. It was really cool to see and the illustrations looked amazing -- thanks to our lovely illustrator Gregor.  What does the success of the book mean to you?  I'm really glad the book has resonated with so many people. I sometimes wonder how my 4-year-old self would react if he saw the success of the book today. Many people have shared positive things about the book, like how some kids have trouble with numbers and letters and this book has made it simpler while also giving them a good message about uniqueness.  It's a great thing to see. About the Author Jake MarrazzoJake Marrazzo is an eighteen-year-old student at Hudson, MA High School. He is the author of a new children's book,  One Wants to be a Letter . From the time Jake learned to speak, it was apparent he was extremely creative. He would constantly be coming up with ideas for books. One day when Jake was four, he came downstairs and said "Dad, I have an idea for a book and it's called 1 Wants to Be a Letter. He began to talk about the number 1 whose friends were all letters and he felt different and wanted to be like them. We talked about the ideas that eventually became this book. Many of the words came from Jake's Dad, but the idea and story came from the creative mind of a four-year old. There is a bit of prophecy here, as Jake was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy when he was eight, and lost his ability to walk when he was twelve. Currently, Jake is now 18 and in his senior year of high school and despite his physical challenges, he still wants to be just like everyone else.