Kate White, who decribes herself as a mother and accidental author, never intended to write a book, says it all began with a New Year’s conversation with God.
“Every New Year, I have a chat with God about the year to come, what we’d like to see happen and how that might come about."
Her daughter Emily, who has special needs, struggles with verbal communication so Kate wanted a book to explain the Christian faith to her. “Sharing my faith with my children and encouraging them in theirs is really important to me, as I’m sure it is to all Christian parents,” Despite the abundance of Christian children's books, none met Emily's specific needs. “There are so many beautiful Christian children’s books, but I couldn’t find one that did what I was looking for.”
Determined to provide Emily with a story she could understand, Kate decided to create the book herself. “At various points in the following journey, it seemed a ridiculous thing to try—the Gospel in 32 colourful pages with as few words as possible!” However, Kate was encouraged by a friend's words:
“inadequate is a good place to start with God.”
“The book is definitely the result of much prayer, and I’m really grateful for all I’ve learnt in the process.”
Initially, 'Meet our amazing friend Jesus', was meant solely for Emily, but Kate realised that publishing through Kindle would make it available on Amazon and therefore accessible to a much wider audience. "When I discovered the cheapest way to print a “real” book would be Kindle publishing I realised it would then be made available on Amazon. Suddenly I realised it could go further than just Emily.”
Kate's church has also been supportive, promoting the book in the local paper and sharing copies within the community.
On the cover of the book, Kate expresses the hope:
“People will read the book and love it, but even more, I hope they will read the book, get to know Jesus, and love Him.”
She envisions the book as a sufficient introduction to Jesus for children, enough for them to understand and start their journey with Him as their forever friend. So far, the response has been positive. Both adults and children of all ages have embraced it. For Emily, the book has been transformative.
“Emily and I read it together, and she prayed the prayer asking Jesus to be her forever friend. She can now re-read it as many times as she likes, which helps her process,”
Kate is now discussing a potential animation of the book with Nicholas Warren from Cinessence Studio. She also has two more books in the works.“One is a diary of a child angel watching from heaven as Jesus comes to earth and trying to work out what’s going on. The other is a kids’ Psalm 23. I feel all of life is contained in Psalm 23 and I realized if I could choose any scripture for my kids to know by heart it would be that—hence the book—words and pictures again.”
If you would like to purchase Kate A White's book 'Meet our amazing friend Jesus' you can via Amazon here!