Local Mompreneur & Son Publish First Children's Book

CHESTER, VA - April 28, 2010 - Chester resident, mother and local business owner, Elizabeth Howard, has been sitting on an idea for the last two years and managed to successfully keep it under wraps. Mrs. Howard, owner of Chester, VA retail boutique, The Cordial Cricket, which specializes in custom invitations, stationery and gifts has recently published her first book. Elizabeth worked on the project with her seven year old son in her spare time, which as she says, “...is next to non-existent as a mother and entrepreneur”. The children’s book titled “The Cordial Cricket” after Howard’s retail store, tells the story of a young cricket who learns a valuable lesson about what it means to be “cordial” during the planning of his birthday party. Howard’s son, who is currently in first grade and an avid artist, drew the cover illustration for their debut children’s book, which was released this week and is now available for sale.

“This turned out to be a wonderful and rewarding project for my son and I.” stated Howard. “We are both very excited to share it with other children and hope that they will enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed working on it”. Howard says the short chapter book is geared toward children from pre-school age to early elementary, whether read aloud or enjoyed by children learning to read on their own. The subject matter of the books is very fitting as Howard also teaches etiquette classes for children at her retail store. “Teaching children proper etiquette and timeless values such as writing thank you notes is a subject very close to my heart. My mother made certain that I knew and valued these skills, which still serve me very well today.”

 

Mrs. Howard has already been contacted by several local schools in central Virginia to come and read to their students. She plans to donate copies of the book to their school libraries. Howard and her son have also decided to donate $2.00 from the sale of every book to the Richmond SPCA, a charity which her son chose. “He is a true animal lover. This will be a great way for him to give back something tangible and know that it helps local animals without homes. We couldn’t think of a more fitting way to share some of the proceeds from our project,” stated Howard. The book is now available for sale at Howard’s store, The Cordial Cricket in Chester, VA and in their online store located at www.thecordialcricket.com. Two book signing events have been scheduled thus far, one on Saturday, May 8th and one on Saturday, June 5th, both at 11:00 at The Cordial Cricket retail store in Chester, VA. During both events there will be a children’s story time and Mrs. Howard and her son will both sign copies of the book for those who attend.