A young boy’s trouble sleeping led to a sweet story which has ended up on an Okotoks store’s shelf.
But most importantly, the creation of the children’s book Sweet-Tooth the Bunny – Sweet Tooth Builds a House helped the Rioux family get through a difficult pandemic year.
“I could not fall asleep so my mom came and told us a story and it was so amazing, we decided to do a story about it,” said seven-year-old Luke Rioux, a student at École Good Shepherd School.
That story became a family project with mom Jennifer the main writer, and co-written by Luke and 10-year-old twin sisters Charlotte and Abigail. All of the children illustrated the 33-page children’s book.
Jennifer created the story on the spot for her sleepy-eyed son, but the book became so much more than words.
“For us it was something positive to focus on over this year with the kids being out of school sometimes and not being able to see their friends,” Jennifer said. ”It was a nice positive outcome that we could see that we all did together.
“For them, I think it was really cool to experience their excitement of being authors and illustrators of a children’s book.”
It didn’t take long after the initial telling of Sweet Tooth for the family to put their ideas and drawings to paper.
“We all loved the story so much, and mom knew we were loving it and she said: ‘Hey guys wanna make a book,’” Charlotte said. “So we decided to make a book.”’
It was a family affair.
“We all had a little role,” Abigail said. “I drew everything Sweet Tooth. Luke drew all the Bob Bears and Charlotte built everything Sweet Tooth built. Mom wrote the book with our help.”
The book’s premise is Sweet Tooth builds a house made of candy for Bob Bear – but Sweet Tooth, true to the name, keeps nibbling away at the home.
“I did an outline of it and then the kids helped me fill it in – the main phrases the characters would say, they helped me decide what candies to build with,” Jennifer said.
“We know our candies,” Abigail added.
The children were ideal giggle-o-meters.
“They were a good test audience – if they laughed, we put it in the book,” Jennifer said.
Positivity was key to the book.
“She (Sweet Tooth) has a rainbow face, because rainbows are pretty happy,” Abigail said. “We wanted it to be a happy face.”
Being happy was what the project was all about.
“It was pretty fun, it was something to take my mind off missing school and everything,” Abigail said, who was in and out of school due to COVID protocols.”
The completion of the book brought Jennifer’s dedication on page 3 home:
For Abigail, Charlotte and Luke: May you always remember that whatever you imagine you can make come true. I believe in you. Love Mom
The Riouxs aren’t about to knock Robert Munsch off the children’s best-seller list, but a Sweet Tooth II and maybe more is already in consideration.
“In the next book Sweet Tooth builds a human out of candy,” Charlotte said. “His name is going to be Aaron and Aaron will follow Sweet Tooth in all the other books.”
Sweet Tooth the Bunny – Sweet Tooth Builds a House is available on Amazon and at Main Street Market and More on McRae Street.
