I’m dedicating this post to my friends, Jaime (Jaime Teahen Sanders), the creator of the book “Adrian’s Adventures in Indonesia” and Liz (Elizabeth LaVally), who is an illustrator for the book.
I met Jaime when I lived in Indonesia. She was one of the girl friends with whom I went Siem Reap, Cambodia in December, 2011 for a race. You can see some photos of us in my posts about Siem Reap, Cambodia under Travel tab. She’s one of the inspiring friends who worked and always had multiple projects going on when I knew her in Indonesia. I remember when she had told me about the idea of writing and publishing a children’s book and have illustration done by our friend, Liz. Not too long after that she really published a children’s book “Adrian’s Adventures in Indonesia”. I was floored. It taught me that if you set your mind to achieve a goal and dedicate your time and energy for it, you can realize it.
I met Liz for the first time through Jaime. I always knew her as a working mom with the U.S. Air Force which I was already impressed with. Until Jaime told me that Liz was going to illustrate for her book, I had no idea that she was an artist. She totally surprised me with her talent. I love the soft lines of color pencils in the illustrations which feel very warm. At the time when she was drawing for the book, her boys were very young and I was impressed that she had managed to find the time to illustrate. It seems that I can’t find enough time to do everything I need to do these days!
Adrian’s Adventures in Indonesia teach children (and adults) about Indonesia’s different islands, their natural habitats and the environments with words and illustrations. It would make a great gift for children who have lived there for memorabilia and for children who are moving to Indonesia in the future to get them excited about their own new adventures. For someone moving to Indonesia, what can be more appropriate than to give “Adrian’s Adventures in Indonesia” as a farewell present? Even if you don’t have any ties with Indonesia, this would be a great book to teach children about Indonesia.
“Adrian’s Adventures in Indonesia” is available at the following stores online.
amazon.com
Barnes & Noble.
*The author would love it if you could write a review of the story on the sites if you have already read the book!
If you are in Indonesia, you can order the book online or ask your local bookstore to order it or stock it.
I would like to also add that a portion of the proceeds from the book will support the fight against child trafficking.
What a wonderful book! The illustrations look lovely. And it’s so interesting to hear how it was written and illustrated by your friends. How inspiring!
I find them very inspiring, too! It would take me years to do something like that!
Wow you’re really inspiring! I myself am a huge fan of Indonesia too, I read daily a traveling website of Indonesia (www.jakpost.travel) and I go there twice a year to different places. But it never crossed my mind to write about my journey to share to the world. This is awesome! Congratulations for you!
Thank you for the comment! It is my friend who wrote the story, so I can’t take any credit for that. Yes, it was quite inspiring to witness my friend transforming her experiences to something tangible.