Despite how influential they are, children’s books are one of the most overlooked pieces of fiction and entertainment.

In creative writing teacher Erin Thomas’ class, she had her students work on children’s books.

“I wanted something different than typing a story in a Google Doc; the goal was that if there was a final product you’re creating, there’s more buy-in,” Thomas said.

The main reason for this assignment was to break away from the monotony of online submissions.

“I think that so frequently that people have to submit this, submit that, and you’ll never see a final product to have something that you know someone will see and you’re physically creating. I think people care more about it, so then they put more effort into it, which leads to a stronger outcome,” Thomas said.

Although due to the size of the project, there were some difficulties. 

“So the thing I am going to change is that I kind of thought the thing that was most valuable was giving time to create it, it needs to be broken into smaller chunks because it was too large of a thing for some people to jump into, so that’s kind of my thought to be a little more explicit,” Thomas said.

Even with multiple problems, Thomas is still working on a way to improve the project for the future.

“The main problems were in relation to the timing and progress of parts of the book. In the future, it needs to be much more structured instead of mainly providing work time,” Thomas said. “In the future, there will be page sections with different due dates to help in chunking the assignment. There will also be partners in class to help with accountability for progress, and there will be dates set in advance with an elementary school for us to come and share our stories.”

With all the setbacks that occurred, the stories were finished with Thomas saying this on them.

“The first reflection I have on them is that kids worked hard on them. They put forth effort and seemed to care about creating something worthwhile,” Thomas said. “Of the books that were completed, they were really good. There was clear thought and effort put into them, and they were a quality finished product.”