Local educator publishes children’s book with his daughter about her adoption
By Grace King – The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (TNS)
Dec. 25—The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
A Watkins man memorialized the story of how his daughter was adopted into their family in a children’s book they self-published on Amazon illustrated by a local high school student.
Nate Klein, vice president for education at Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa, tells the story of how his daughter Lilian Klein, 9, joined their family in 2016.
The story titled “Bear Bear the Lion” is about Bear Bear — a curious lion cub modeled after one of Lilian’s stuffed animals — who joins a family of bears after leaving her birth pride of lions.
The idea to write a book together began when Klein was speaking with Lilian about how much she loves to read.
“She sometimes loves to read even when she should be doing other things and when she should be sleeping,” Klein said.
Lilian asked, “What if my name was on the front of one of these books?”
That question spurred ideas about what that book could be about and how the father and daughter could make it a reality.
After several months of writing, rewriting and finding people in the community to work alongside him to make the book a success, Klein published the book in October on Lilian’s birthday. On the cover it reads, “Inspired by Lilian Klein.”
“Bear Bear the Lion” sells for $15 on Amazon. Amazon keeps most of the profits — $11, Klein said. Of the $4 the Kleins make off each book, $1 goes to Lilian’s savings account, $1 goes to her college fund, $1 is invested in a book Klein plans to write with each of Lilian’s three siblings, and $1 goes to Chelsea’s Dream Foundation, a local nonprofit that provides financial grants to couples and families who adopt children.
So far, they’ve donated $300 to Chelsea’s Dream Foundation through book proceeds.
Lilian is saving to buy a car.
An adoption story
Klein and his wife Jenny Klein began their adoption journey in 2014 after facing infertility challenges.
Although they were pursuing an international adoption, it was a June evening when they got the call from a family friend. There was an eight-month-old baby girl in Washington, Iowa, they could pick up that night.
Lilian’s birth father — her primary caregiver at the time — had “come to the end of his rope,” Klein said.
They picked up Lilian that night. The next morning, they met with a lawyer in the parking lot of Coral Ridge Mall to sign separation papers to begin legally adopting her.
“It was pretty incredible. From zero to family in 20 hours, which was the initial title of the book,” Klein said.
Since that day, the Kleins have adopted two more children and welcomed a miracle biological child Tobin, 3.
Ellary, 8, is from Ethiopia. And Riggs, 2, was born in Tampa, Florida, but his biological parents are from Haiti.
The family has been open and transparent with the children about each of their adoption stories. They read books about different cultures and even attend a camp each summer in Colorado, called the African Caribbean Heritage Camp, that connects adoptive families with cultural experiences.
Now that “Bear Bear the Lion” has been published, Klein said his other three children each expect to write a book with him about how each of them came to the family.
“We have a family mantra. Every morning we say, ‘I will be brave. I will be kind. I will have fun. And I will love one another,” Klein said.
“Each of their books will be built on their story of how they came to the family, but also on a certain topic,” Klein said. “For Lily’s book, we talked about what it means to be brave because sometimes she misses her birth family. Those are real things we talk about that are tough for people to articulate. We thought a children’s story with some amazing art could at least help start a conversation.”
Local high school student becomes an illustrator
As Klein worked to create the story of “Bear Bear the Lion,” he was introduced to artist Amaya Dawson, 17, a senior at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids.
Although Dawson has done some commissions before as an artist, illustrating a book felt like a big step into being a professional artist, he said.
Klein sent Dawson the story along with a general description of what he envisioned each page to look like.
Dawson said he put a lot of thought into the illustrations. For example, he wanted Bear Bear, the lion cub, to resemble his lion parents through the pattern of their fur and certain characteristics around their eyes.
Seeing the book for the first time was “surreal,” he said.
“There are plenty of adoption stories out there, but I feel like the direction this one takes is unique. The part that gets me the most is I really like this arc for Bear Bear and navigating bullies,” Dawson said.
Another unique element to the book is that the font is Lilian’s handwriting.
Nate said it’s been special to spend time with Lilian through writing the book and putting it out to the public through readings at the public library, The History Center and schools.
“She’ll have this forever, and it’s been really cool for her to hear from other people that have been positively impacted by this,” Klein said.
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com
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