BENICE

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Author Statement:

BENICE’s Journey

My children are going to experience a very different life to mine, and that both worries and inspires me. My wife and I are immigrants to the US, raising a multicultural family in our new home without the immediate presence of the extended family so vital to my own upbringing.

I grew up in a huge family, and I cherish my childhood memories of playing with my cousins, watching our favourite soccer team with my uncle, and defending my brother in street fights. My wife, on the other hand, had only one sister and her mother. 

Our kids are experiencing very different childhoods, and while this is the life we hoped to provide for them, we also wanted them to understand the life experiences that brought our family to this point. My greatest challenge, or perhaps fear, is to prepare them for a world without their extended family close by. While my wife’s concern is more raw as she remembers raising her sister alone after their mother left them when she was just twelve. 

The start of my journey as a writer is similar to that of other parent-authors. I loved to tell stories to our son and daughter. I would tell them a story almost every night. I pulled events from my childhood, fascinating a new generation with tales of my brother, sisters, uncles, cousins, and hometown that always focused on the importance of family and friendship. It took me a while, but after writing Benice I realized that I was subconsciously using bedtime stories to compensate for the lack of family members in our kids’ lives. I wanted my kids to know that they will be okay on their own as long as they have love and friendship in their lives.

To that end, my stories also included our longtime family friends and their kids. We are lucky enough to have a tight-knit group of friends from varied cultures and backgrounds, and our kids have all grown up together. Part of that growing up was a period where the demand for stories lessened, followed by a growing insistence that I write my old stories down for them to keep and pass on. It was in the process of doing so that many small stories naturally coalesced into a larger narrative.

When I told the kids (now between five and twelve years old) that I was writing a book about them, they were so excited! It turned into a project, with them drawing illustrations and choosing photographs to create the first, very exclusive ‘Family Edition’ of Benice, and I printed a copy for each child to keep.

My goal was accomplished: I was a storyteller for my kids, and I had created a perfect keepsake for them to cherish, but I’d also written a story that they enjoyed beyond its application to our family. Reworking the story, engaging professional editors, and searching out a gifted illustrator, I set to work creating the ‘Public Edition’ of Benice, a story that will resonate with those parents who have traveled far from their childhood homes – and, of course, with any child who has a taste for adventure.

What I had intended as a commemoration of old stories – tales meant to convey the importance of family, love, and friendship to kids of all ages – was actually the beginning of many more. Just like the characters I write, this is an adventure I hadn’t expected, but one on which I am profoundly grateful to have embarked.