Mission Statement
Kathleen Hawks Books was founded on the belief that a lifetime of growth and development begins with an early love of books and reading. The goal is to create engaging media to support three areas of child development:
Emerging Literacy, Empathy, and Imagination.
Emerging Literacy
Books are made to fit inside small hands, so that even young children feel empowered to pick them up and turn the pages.
Text is large and not obscured by background colors. Children should, over time, recognize that text is an integral part of the book and that the letters combine with the pictures to make the story come to life.
Empathy
The characters in these stories experience a broad range of emotions. Children can identify from the words and the pictures which feelings are being felt.
Each character has their own perspective. Children can identify that the feelings of each character are impacted by unique experiences.
Imagination
The stories are not too literal. The illustrations are colorful but not realistic. Children can be inspired by these books to create their own understandings of the stories.
About the Author
I'm excited to be able to share my children's books with friends, family, and beyond. I've always been passionate about children's literature because I believe that learning to love books at a young age is invaluable to encourage a life-long love of reading, as well as predicting future academic success.
I live in central Iowa with my partner and our two cats. I work as an assistant teacher in an early child development center in Des Moines, and at an after school program in Story County. My favorite things are reading books, walking outside, and playing music with my guitar and trumpet. After spending countless hours reading picture books to young children of all ages, I decided to try my hand at creating my own.
-Kathleen Hawks
