An 11-yr old published author? Now that's talent!

One of my biggest fears when I was pregnant with Garrett and Landon (our 2nd set of twins) was how to explain everything to Cole and Bella (our 1st set of twins). They were only 22 months old and while they were somewhat verbal, I'm not sure how much they truly understood about the situation.

Some of the things we did to help prepare them for Garrett and Landon's arrival were:

1) Buying each of them their own set of twin baby dolls to care for.
2) Letting them listen to the babies' heartbeats almost every night on the doppler I had borrowed from a friend.
3) Allowing them to come to some appointments with us to actually SEE the ultrasound as it was happening. They absolutely loved watching the babies' little hearts fluttering and they'd get a kick out of seeing the babies moving around.

All that seemed adequate enough....but part of me still worried about how they would react when they realized that the babies were real little human beings, with whom they would need to share us with. So I went on a search for books that may help explain things better but there simply were none available. The books I did find explained how to prepare children for the birth of ONE child but not twins. And there certainly were no books available from a child's perspective.

The reason I felt it was so important to prepare them for a twin arrival was for the obvious reason that two babies would require much more of my attention than just one baby would (attempting to breastfeed and/or pump for 2 babies, having 2 more babies in diapers....). Not only was I worried about how I was going to juggle it all, but I was also worried about how they would feel, as I tried to make time for each of them.

In the end, it all worked out....somehow. But having a book to explain it all, at the time, would have been nice.

That's why I was so excited when Dave Morris, from New Year Publishing, recently contacted me and told me about his talented 11-year old daughter, Paris, who has written several books on the topic. He offered to send me some of her books to review. Her first book, I'm Having Twins, is told from her perspective, based on her own experience when she was 3 years old as her family was preparing for the arrival of twins. She went on to write 2 more books called My Twins are Coming Home and My Twins' First Birthday. Soon, she will be adding more books to the series.

I received I'm Having Twins and My Twins are Coming Home to review. The kids helped me open the package and they were instantly enamored with the bright colors of the cover page's illustration. We read both books right away and they loved them. They especially liked that it had been written by another child....someone close in age to them who truly understood what it was like to become an older sibling to twins. They could relate to her and they said as much, "Mommy, she's just like us....she has twins too" and "Her twins were in the hospital too, like our twins were". The books each came with a sticker....a cartoon picture of Paris.

Paris' books are best sellers on Amazon's site and she has been featured in several magazines. This is one amazing little girl, who has found a way to help other children ease into the role of "big brother" or "big sister" of twins.

These books would be valuable to any family that is expecting twins. They would make great gifts for future big brothers or sisters!

If you'd like to order Paris' books, they are available online at the following sites:
Double Up Books (a wonderful bookstore specializing in twins, triplets and more....owned by a mom of twins!!)

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Tweet

Pin It