A Story of Hope for Children

The idea of writing a children’s book came to Lois in April 2022 shortly after the words “Once upon a robin” came out of her mouth while watching the robins with her not quite two year old granddaughter. The rest of the text came to her over the next few days and it was her son-in-law who suggested there “might be a book”. He connected Lois with Hannah Scheele, the book’s illustrator, who had interned with him at a local non-profit. Once the text was complete, Lois bought a blank book, wrote the text on the pages, and inserted photos of robins, nests, and eggs she found online. Her daughter and son-in-law took photos of her granddaughter with the various expressions to correspond to the text. That was the FIRST “book”, and Lois presented it to her granddaughter on her second birthday. After much research, reading, debate, and prayer, Lois decided to self publish; a decision she does not regret. Hannah and Lois work extremely well together and, from the beginning, both realized that at the completion of the project they would be “published” as an author and illustrator, a fact which provided much motivation. Lois praises the Allen County Public Library, particularly the Aboite branch and its staff, as a great source of information and encouragement. Lois reviewed many picture books at the library for format and “production” decisions.

Utilizing her and her husband’s business backgrounds, Lois was able to navigate the decisions related to starting a business and publishing the book. Within a few months of writing Once Upon a Robin, three more rhyming texts were written and ideas for two additional series took shape, so creating a publishing company was a logical progression. “Robin Press”, the original choice, was taken… and it’s the name of a well known Canadian hockey player! Robin House Press was selected and incorporated, the publishing company was set in motion, and “Once Upon a Robin” was successfully published in April 2023!

Get your copy!

‘Once Upon a Robin’ is available NOW on Amazon and BarnesAndNoble.com!