A resident of Ste. Anne recently taught herself illustration and ended up writing two children's books. 

Breanne Van Linge says explains how she got started in writing and illustration. 

“I am a new mom and I have a very young daughter and I was looking for something creative I could do while she was sleeping, something that wasn't very messy, something I could pick up and put down easily and then so I stumbled across digital illustrating.” 

She bought an iPad and downloaded Procreate, a digital illustrating app, and she taught herself digital illustrating while her baby slept. 

From there she was trying to figure out creative ways where she could use the illustrations. 

“And then having a daughter kind of led me into the children's book avenue.” 

The first book she released is called The Early Gardener. 

The Early Gardener

Van Linge says the idea came to her as she has a passion for gardening, and is hoping to pass that on to her daughter. 

“She's a little young now, she's only 11 months, but when she's old enough, it does go through how to get started on gardening. It starts off with where our vegetables come from, and then how plants start from a little seed, there's different types of seeds, each seed type sprouts a different plant.” 

At the end of the book, there's three activities that help the children put to use all of the knowledge that they've learned. The activities include starting seeds, making compost, and then starting their very first garden. 

Van Linge explains her creative process. 

“I knew the topic that I wanted to cover, I wrote it out, and then I kind of split it up into what should be on each page. Then from there I can brainstorm what would be a good visual to go along with the writing on that page.” 

She says each book took about a month, with her working on it two to three hours a day. 

“And what's kind of nice is before I had the iPad, I was probably wasting too much time on social media. When I got this going, it was a new avenue where I could funnel my time and energy into.” 

The second book she released is called Wished For Child. 

Wished For Child

“Wished For Child is a heartfelt tale of a mother wishing upon a star for a child, and the star shimmers from the sky into her tummy. And there's beautiful illustrations to show that and the mom with the baby, and then there's also woodland animals too, so a doe with her fawn, and a bear with her cub.” 

She says the story was inspired by her own experience. 

“Like many couples nowadays, my husband and I were having difficulties having a baby, just dealing with some infertility stuff, and we weren't sure if we would be able to,” she says. “One day I was frustrated, and I don't know what made me do it, but verbally I said out loud, ‘if anyone's listening, I wish for a child.’ And coincidentally, within a couple weeks, I was pregnant.” 

“And then I called my daughter my little star, and she's actually named after a star, her name is Maia. So it's very close to my heart, this book,” adds Van Linge. 

After finishing two books in two months, she is already working on a third book. 

“I want to keep going with this as long as I have time and as long as I have interest in it, I really, really enjoy it. My third book is about just a story my mom used to tell me growing up, but it's still in the works.” 

Her books are available on Amazon for $10.99. You can also get them at Collecta Co in Steinbach, Trading Post in Beausejour, and Stems & Roses in Oakbank. 

 

With files from Carly Koop