Susan Holden launched her set of four booklets for younger children at the Nanango Markets last month. The set of four booklets has been a long time in production with the first booklet being written after some “inspirational verse” coming to her mind following an observation of some sibling rivalry amongst some children who were visiting at the time. That was the beginning point for Sue to write The Home Team. It was just a “fun thing” to do at the time, but it had become the catalyst to continue writing children’s books with a different theme in each book. That was over ten years ago.

The author’s son, Jordan who is a budding freelance cartoonist, then took pen to paper and began doing some sketches for the pages of the book. Well, not everything goes to plan in life, and this was just one of those things that seemed to get stalled at every turn. After what seemed like eternity, the drawings eventually came to life and we got to see the rough draft. Perfect! Then disaster – the iPad that had the draft originals got stolen. The process of recreating the characters had to start all over again – but this time some valuable lessons were learned.

As the new book was coming together page by page, Sue continued writing with the characters that she began with, and created more adventures for the two central characters, Erin and Adam. The major theme in each of the books has something to do with childhood development, something that children can relate to that makes each of the books something special for them to identify with.

Something Useful became Sue’s second book which was a story about how the two siblings realised that working together on a project was so much better than teasing the other’s efforts. Cooperation was a key to making something that was going to be way too difficult for the younger lad to accomplish.

By this stage, Susan was on a roll, her third book (which Susan thought was going to finish as a trilogy of books), was flowing off her pen like a Shakespearian poet with a heart-felt mission – teaching little children some important life-skills at a very early age. Meanwhile, Jordan, although enjoying creating each illustration for the books, was beginning to wonder if this was going to be the last, or was there going to be many, many more illustrations that he needed to do for his Mother?

I Need You Son introduced another two characters that Jordan brought into the mix with his characteristic lifelike expressions. This time it was Adam’s Dad and a neighbouring lad by the name of Jamie. The story focused on the need to keep one’s promise if you make a commitment to someone (in this case, Adam’s Dad.) It all turns out very well with Jamie helping both Adam and Adam’s Dad build some outdoor furniture.

Wait – there’s more. Just when Jordan was about to retire his cartoon-making skills for a season whilst he concentrated on other things musically creative, Susan writes her last, and perhaps her best – a story involving the whole family! This time we have Adam, Erin, with Mum and Dad all working on an outdoor project that requires patience. Growing strawberries became the inspiration for Sweet Treat. What child doesn’t love the idea of growing their very own strawberries!

As a result of Jordan’s efforts, he now has his own business as an illustrator called Mister Ink. He may be contacted at: hello@misterink.com.au