Max Can

Back in college I took a storytelling course. It was a pretty awesome elective class for an illustration major. I developed a couple of books concepts in that class. But what I learned was that good books aren't made overnight. It takes some time to marinate a manuscript.

When it came to writing Max Can, I went through ten drafts in manuscripts, This set includes the four drafts in college, and the six post drafts created while freelancing back in 2011-2016.

The initial idea was to tell a story about a bunny. At the time I figured kids loved bunnies, well at least I did. But what could be better than a bunny who dressed up?

Either way I would run the risk of the story being funny or extremely convoluted. Unfortunately the story became overly complex and it was suppose to be a simple children story. So I stepped away, I was a new Mother, freelancing artist plus, working a 9 to 5. Years passed and the story sat on the shelf. My daughter grew, having a out of this world personality, that was inspiring. It'd been a year since my last book, Winter Wish, came out. I thought that maybe I was done. Then as I was cleaning, I found a old tote bag with the illustration boards in it. I saw the bunny for the first time since college.

Then my daughter saw it,and said, "Woah Momma whats that?"

I told her that it was old work I did a long time ago then asked her if she liked it. My daughter met my question with, "It looks silly, and colorful." She laughed as she went through the pictures. Then she said, "Woah he's a superhero, and a taxi driver!"

I said "yep," then and laughed with her.

I sat down at my art space, and laid out the pictures. I went through them one by one, categorizing and brainstorming ideas. I shared my thoughts with friends and family. Then i gave my self lines of text to work with. But something was missing.

The story needed a purpose.

It was the hardest thing to craft. So instead of making up something random, I thought about how this story was relevant to my life as it was now.Then I thought about my daughter, I got her a washboard calendar. We were going through days of the week at home and learning numbers. At her school she was also learning days of the week, but in song form.

So I said to myself that I will role with that. However, something else was missing. The text would be dry, without a purposeful objective.

Clearly it was days of the week, but I needed more.

Now at the time, like I said before, my daughter was just starting school. She was having problems. She's very verbal in her approach, loves to help, manage, and is overall very engaging, and advanced at her age in levels of reading and math. Sometimes she can be hyper but she since has learned to reign it in.

Some of her classmates, didn't like this. At first my daughter was fine. Then everything changed almost overnight. There was bullying going on in her classroom, verbal and even physical. My daughter would come home upset, she started to say, I can't. I spoke to the principal and eventually was able to get her out of that classroom and into a better one. Since then one of the teachers in there has resigned or was terminated.

Even so, I still have to explain to my child that she is unique. I told her that, she never should never accept being treated as less than, by anyone. We are all human. We all are wonderful, and have different talents and skills.Things like clothes, shoes, hair, material things, don't really matter in the long run.

"I told my daughter that there's only one person in the world like you and you can be who you want. Your dreams are important no matter how big or small."

Once I got her back on track, I went back to writing the final manuscript for my bunny story. I decided on the title Max Can. By Max I thought about all of the times I'd spend worrying that I maxed out my options but kept going regardless of the obstacles in front of me.

By using the word Can, I used it as a reminder that can't is not an option. I taught my daughter that she can dream, which meant that I could too. What kind of role model would I be if I just gave up?

"We create art because it's embedded in our DNA, there's this urge to make things, experiment and just mess sh*t up.It's something that cannot be programmed." © Lovietta Simpkins

Thanks for reading.

~ Lovietta Simpkins

Max Can By: Lovietta Simpkins can be Purchased from:

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Summary

Max the bunny has a secret. Follow Max throughout his week and find out his superpower.

Published in the United States by Envision & Wonder. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Publisher, Author & Illustrator, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Copyright infringement is a crime and offenders will be punished to the full extent of the law.

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Envision & Wonder

First Edition Month & Year: November 2016

Publisher: Envision & Wonder

ISBN: 978-0-9961561-1-0

Made in the United States of America.