By Patricia Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Jennifer Melvin has taught school and been in the educational field for over 25 years. Currently she is an Assistant Principal at New Haven Elementary school, a post she has held for the last 5 years.
This month she is embarking on a new career she hopes will take her into her retirement years. On March 5, Melvin launched her first children’s picture book, a wonderful tale about Camilla the Chameleon, and the challenging day her emotions caused her to display an exceptionally bright array of her colors at school.
Melvin said she taught the early years, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades for 10 years, and she loves those grades, especially the first grade where the children are dedicated to accomplishing the goal of learning to read. At the same time, they are also learning to socialize, make friends, and struggling to sort out good feelings from bad feelings.
Camilla is in the second grade, and when a new student joins the class she experiences feelings that are difficult for her to handle. Melvin said many times in the classes she taught she noticed how feelings sometimes encouraged the children to decide to act in a way that was disruptive to the class. Then the teachers would show the students different ways to handle those feelings.
“The main lesson of the book is that we are human, we all have feelings that are good and bad, and it is okay,” she said. “But it is how we control those feelings that teach us things. Camilla learns that she can control the feelings. But since she is a chameleon, she changes color with the feelings, so other students can see how she is feeling, and she is able to get help.”
Melvin chose the Camilla story from about 10 other manuscripts she has worked on through the years. She has wanted to publish her own children’s book since she was a little girl.
“I grew up in Boone County and went to Boone County High School,” Melvin said. “I always knew I could write, and when I had assignments, a lot of times mine was one of the best. But since I then went on to teach small children, I used picture books a lot. Even as an adult learner, I’ve used picture books and trainings that I’ve done for teachers and for people when I worked as an instructional coach.”
Four years ago, Melvin’s world fell apart when her husband became sick with lymphoma, and quickly died, leaving Melvin and three children, a 13-year0old, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old. The older two are now in college, and the youngest one is a junior at Ryle High School, but losing a parent was an unexpected tragedy that they all had to find a way through.
“I understood that my children were looking to me to find a path through the unbelievable pain,” Melvin said. “So I made a change and decided to start a new path and show my kids that there are still blessings to be had, and that they can still find joy in life, even while they are missing their dad. I wanted to show them resilience.”
One day Melvin was on Facebook, and she saw an ad for writers through the Miranda Laundry Publishing Company who offered classes on becoming a writer and how to be published. Though she realized she is not a person who is an avid reader of novels, she knew her heart’s desire has always been to write and publish a children’s book. So she responded and took a three-month course which whetted her appetite for a year-long course which resulted in her successful first children’s book.
“So I am not a self-published author, and I am not with a traditional publishing house, but I have what they call a hybrid model of publishing,” Melvin explained.
The company gave her resources where she could find illustrators for her book.
“My son is in college right now studying with an art major, and at first I thought he might want to do the illustrations,” she said. “But he felt like he didn’t want to hold up the process if his schedule and my schedule didn’t fit, so I looked through the portfolios and I found a lady in Ecuador, Nadia Ronquillo, who worked for a large publishing company at one time. She has illustrated over 250 books so far. She went out on her own, because she missed communicating with the author during the projects.”
Melvin said when she was young she used to illustrate her own work, but she said she didn’t have as much confidence in illustration as she did in writing, so to avoid a double pressure to finish the book she went with Ronquillo, who she said did a great job.
She explained that when she was assistant principal, many times she would encounter a student who made poor choices, and when they received a write-up for bad behavior, they would come to her, and she would help them reflect back on the feeling they had just before the poor choices they made. So as an assistant principal she said they would use something called the zones of regulation, a system that associated colors with the emotions the child is feeling.
“I wanted to write something that was going to help kids to be able to identify their feelings using those colors,” she stated. “Chameleons turn different colors, and I was able to point out that when you have all of those feelings at once, the colors can get confused and so can the child. Since I used picture books as learning tools for the young students, I wanted to do something that would be a tool that teachers can use for their kids, like I did.”
Melvin said they had a big party at the Windwater Company on March 5, where her brother is president of the company, and they invited families with children, and other educators.
Since then she has visited three elementary schools and read the book to the children. She said she received a great response each time, and the kids would ask questions, and want to know what happens next, which caused her to think about sequels to her book.
She also plans to do more readings so that she can get her book in front of teachers and students. Then she will probably work on more manuscripts during this summer and next summer, since as an educator she doesn’t work during the summer. Melvin said she has some manuscripts already that she can work on, and one is about experiencing grief, and how to cope with the loss of someone while still looking for happiness in life.
One of her manuscripts has a dragon in it, a sure fire draw for children’s interest.
Now she is still basking in completing her dream of becoming a published children’s author, and watching all the avenues that are opening to her as an author.
“It has been an exciting journey,” she said. “I am so proud. We actually submitted the book for an International Impact award, and I just found out that I am a winner of one of those.
“So my kids and I are going out to Arizona this summer to receive that award. Life has indeed opened up a new path for me.”