A Fairfield dad wants to make students feel confident in being themselves.
He's hoping a children's book that he wrote will get that message across.
Now, the crux of that message, be yourself and be kind. Take a look at this one.
Students in Fairfield head back to class today.
You're going buddy, Dad, Keith Stekler has this message for his little ones,
be yourself and be kind, individuality, self esteem, self expression,
being yourself, but also respecting other people that might be different,
dress differently because everyone's an individual and it's
really important to be receptive of that.
It's the message in a children's book he just wrote. It's called The Sparkly.
The book was inspired by his seven year old daughter, Annie.
A couple years ago, Emmy would come home from school and just talk about I need this,
I need that.
And just because all her friends have it, it's a very common theme for parents.
And I knew that there had to be a lot of books about that. But I was trying to figure out
what would be an interesting angle for that.
That's where Stegar's
love of cheeseburgers came into play. I thought
what if they're all burgers and we can mess with the buns,
our clothing and they're all different.
And
I started really getting into it.
Good morning says Emmy, Emmy, same bun as yesterday. I asked mom.
The book starts off with Emmy choosing her outfit for the day.
Emmy has her favorite clothing item in this book. It's the sparkly bun.
She wears it multiple times to school because she wants
to match her friends who are actually her cousins.
But Emmy quickly gets called out for wearing her sparkly bond two days in a row. At
the end of the book,
you find out does Emmy realize the importance of being an individual
and being herself or does she sort of follow the crowd?
Stekler says the book came as a surprise to his family, especially his daughter,
the main character for her to see like her dad's name on the cover,
her personified in a children's book and
then reading through it and going Charlotte,
like that's my friend.
And
it was a really fun process that I was able to capture.
The message has resonated with her that she understands that
I don't need everything. I see
things cost money.
Deckler is hoping that message will resonate with other kids too.
His goal is to have the sparkly bun end up on bookshelves in Fairfield schools
and libraries find the ways that are special for you and really embrace that.
Just a great message there you are one of a kind and you're special embrace that.