Watching the attacks on the World Trade Center from the rooftop of my New York apartment on September 11, I knew I was witnessing a war. I knew our military would soon be called to duty and my heart immediately went to our military and their families.

I remember that moment as my own Vietnam flashback. I recalled the harshness, verbal attacks and political reprisals directed at my father and our family by teachers, the media, protestors and even extended family. Even as a small child, while my parents protected me from the politics of war and the dangers, there were adults out there who taught my classmates that my father was a “babykiller” and that we were “war-mongerers”.

How sad that those people didn’t understand that they were not promoting peace, but merely forcing families who were already sacrificing so much to suffer alone, and compounding the pressures of a war and separation of families.

I hoped and prayed that no families would suffer what our soldiers and their families suffered during Vietnam. I was inspired, at that moment, to write a poem about my own experience, as a child, having a parent deployed to war.

I called my mother and shared the poem with her. She was so touched she asked to share it with her friends. I illustrated the poem and posted it on a website for her friends to read. To my surprise, my e-mail box was filled with requests to purchase my story in book form. Of course, that book did not exist.

Because of my previous career in the media world, I was able to use my connections to speak with people in the publishing industry about the book I had written and illustrated . I not only shared my words and work with them, but being a media industry professional, told them about the demand for my books and the demographic of military families and their young that were going unserved by their industry

Their response was immediate and blunt. They were quite clear they weren’t interested in publishing books for children of military personnel.

As the grown child of a service person that kind of dismissive and even abusive attitude toward the military and its children, was not new, but this time, as an adult, I was grateful to hear it. I finally understood why I had never seen a book that reflected my community on the shelves of a library, at school or in a bookstore. The truth was painful, but they were comfortable enough with me to share the real reasons behind their decisions.

It was different this time, because now I could do more than be hurt by their bias. It motivated me to make the difficult decision to publish these books on my own and be a voice from and for the military community. I knew that even if one of these publishers chose to publish books for military families they would not share my mission. I wanted to ensure that children were not the brunt of adult politics, and nor would I shy away from showing realities of military family life, such as a parent in uniform. I did not want military families to be painted as villains or victims, but as a proud community of service. Besides, for many children of military parents, seeing anyone in uniform conjures up warm feelings of family and home!

Several people tried to convince me to seek academic funding or government sponsorship. But what I had written was from the heart, it wasn’t an academic exercise, nor was it an instructional or authoritative governmental brochure. Furthermore, I wanted all children to have access to my books, so that they could get to know how special their military family neighbors and classmates were. I knew that making the effort to educate the civilian population about my community would give them an opportunity to understand us more and subsequently create more social support for deployed families. I was glad to have that foresight, as Iraq brought with it a new wave of “suddenly military” families from the National Guard and Reservists who lived in civilian communities.

Children’s self-esteem is so closely tied to their parents, family and community. I knew that children seeing themselves and their families reflected positively in these books could help their confidence, pride and comfort level in the classroom. Not just the content of the book, but the public’s access to these positive images could help transform our country’s perception of the military family.

It was a blessing in disguise to hear these harsh words, because this would motivate me to publish the books myself and would set the stage for the mission of my publishing company. I wanted to ensure that children coping with the deployment of their parent would not be at the brunt of these unkind words, or at least, be counterbalanced by a message of pride and inclusion.

I took the poem and the illustrations that were originally hosted on my website and put together two books “Daddy, You’re My Hero!” and “Mommy, You’re My Hero!.” These  books became the very first children’s picture books written for children of military personnel and the very first children’s picture books written to help children coping with deployment of a parent.

I established Little Redhaired Girl Publishing to publish and distribute my Books for BratsTM series. As the sole publisher, I have been able to commit to our mission to promote pride and support in our community. Because of our sales success, I have even had the freedom as an independent publisher to donate most of our profits to promotions that benefit FRGs.

At the time of their release, the press noted that my books were the only children’s books written for military brats that were commercially available. Having “You’re my Hero!” titles on store and library shelves was a wonderful step forward. However, as I told the press, it was my greatest desire that they not sit alone, but would be joined by other titles that reflected the lives and stories of military brats and military families.

Recently, I was interviewed on the 5^th anniversary of the book’s releases and asked about the recent releases of more children’s books that address military families. For me, this is an indication that we have succeeded in our mission! I look forward to the day that the major media begins to value and encourage the voices and stories from this community as well.

As an author, I doubt I could ever experience anything as thrilling as connecting with the readership of my books and contributing to a movement that gave proper and respectful representation of military families in the media.

As a grown child of a war veteran, I breathe a little easier when I hear children reciting my book and using it to verbalize their own worries, pride and experiences. I am hopeful that they know they are part of a proud community of service, that others view their parents as heroes too and, most importantly, that they are not alone. I hope my books have helped teach these children that they are heroes too!