HIJINX IN A HIGHRISE
New book features young characters whose friends live down the hall, not down the street
The Condo Kids: Adventures with Bob
the Barbary Sheep was inspired by my experience raising two young boys in a 46-storey condo in Toronto.
It’s my first book and the first in an early-reader, chapter-book series for kids ages 6 to 9 — or for parents to read to their younger children — with colour illustrations by Chilean artist Ana Patankar.
It follows brothers Noah and Michael, and their escapades with all the other Condo Kids in the building.
Despite the fact that highrise living is a growing reality for many Toronto families — and the most common lifestyle in major international cities such as New York or Hong Kong — I couldn’t find any children’s books with this setting.
Highrise and condo kids, like my own boys, deserve to have their lifestyle reflected in children’s literature, which traditionally features main characters who live in houses with fences and yards, running down the block to play with their neighbours.
The Condo Kids isn’t only for children growing up in highrises. Just like the TV show Friends resonated with an audience beyond apartment-dwellers, this book aims to reach all children who share the bonds of friendship and adventures with their neighbours.
The first storyline finds the Condo Kids keeping a major secret after Noah, desperate for a pet, sneaks a Barbary sheep named Bob home from the zoo. The kids soon learn that keeping a secret pet is risky — between Noah’s suspicious mom and the scary superintendent on their trail, they’re just one mistake away from being discovered.
The 65-page book is available on Amazon and at condokids.ca ($12.99 U.S.). My sons and the real condo kids in our building are proud Earth Rangers, so 10 per cent of all proceeds from book sales go to this worthwhile kids’ conservation organization.
Parts two and three in the storybook series are underway.
With a journalism degree from Ryerson University and my career spent as a reporter, online writer/ editor, TV producer and now freelance writer for the Star, I always wanted to write books. Who knew it would begin with kids’ books?