Allura's Scribble

You know when something TERRIBLE happens?... something AWFUL and you have multiple heart attacks... (courtesy of your children of course 😊) …but then later on you realize it was actually something BEAUTIFUL and you actually needed it?

This was one of those weeks for me... and due to my second born, Allura.

 You might already have seen Allura. She features in an image I use on my website and inside my science books. She’s the little cutie, sitting on a couch, pointing to a page on Violet the Photon. She was only one year old in that photo and has since grown into a feisty and cheeky little ball of energy since then. 😊

Anyways, I got a call from a distributor of my ‘Science Books for Bubs’. They were very happy and said, “THE BOOKS ARE BEAUTIFUL!”. However, here was one slight concern.

On one of the pages of ‘Violet the Photon’, (Page 4 to be exact) there seemed to be a printing issue.

It turns out, there was no printing issue. It was worse than that!

Allura (3yo), had somehow managed to scribble on my digital illustrations just before it got published.

Aaaarrrgggh!!!! So now there are thousands of dollars’ worth of books, on the other side of the planet, printed with Allura’s darn scribbles on them!!!

At this realization, I was horrified, and I immediately started planning a recall. But then I spoke to another Mum about it... and she begged me not to get rid of it. The more I thought about it, she was right.

I, Mrs. J Finch, am a Mum. A Mum who works from home... as a controls engineer, as an engineering board member, as a designer of baby products and as a creator of children’s books.

...and THIS is what a life of a Mum looks like!!!!

So, I’ve decided I’m going to KEEP THE SCRBBLE for all future prints.

I want that scribble to bring parents joy when they read that book.

I want that scribble to remind them, that it is a real person writing and illustrating these books.

That it is a Mum writing, late at night when the kids are asleep, hoping to better the world for our children.

Let it be a beautiful inside joke between myself and the parents.

Let it be a reminder that CHILDREN ARE A BEAUTIFUL CHAOS and that THEY DONT GIVE A TOSS about your “work”.

To the parents and children who are the first to receive the original SCRIBBLE EDITION, I hope you can appreciate the treasure you hold in your hands, and I thank you so much for your support in my quest to normalize science and tech topics for our growing bubs.

Much Love,

Mrs. J Finch

xxox