About Me
Hello! I am the very proud husband to my wife Katie and father to our three boys: big brother Dylan and our twins Connor and Brody. While I have loved books since I was a child, I am a newbie to the author game and have spent my professional life in the investment world.
This book started as another rendition of a game we play with our kids called “Once Upon a Time” where the family would collectively assemble stories for fun and the only rule, like improv, is that each child’s turn must contribute something additive to the existing storyline (say Yes, and…). 2020 was a lot of things but I will always be grateful for the time we got to spend as a family imagining together. And as you might guess a lot of the subject matter, again and again at the boys’ behest, found its way to trucks.
I was raised in Windsor, California alongside my three siblings and was lucky enough to grow up with two teachers as parents that instilled in us early and often an irreverence for labels (we are all people), a belief that we too can build and create, the importance of learning to solve our own problems, and an appreciation of the superpower that is empathy. These, alongside with my children’s imagination and love of trucks and my wife’s background and expertise in childhood development, became the cross-section from which Silly Willy was born.
The choice of a garbage truck as the main character was both a means to engage children in the storyline and an homage to essential workers. When the pandemic surfaced and life ceased being ordinary, as essential workers you continued forth and in doing so reminded us all that we have it in ourselves to be extraordinary. Thank you.
I am so very excited to share Silly Willy with you.
About the Book
In the course of parenting, my wife and I have read a number of books and talked for long hours on the things that we want our kids to learn. One of them is perspective taking, both to empower conflict resolution and to stoke their curiosity and interest in different points of view. With the kids’ help, this project was born. We often call our kids “Silly Willies” and they love garbage trucks so that became the medium for the message. The book is meant to expose children to the idea of different points of view in a fun and funny way. I hope you enjoy.
