Greenwood graduate writes children’s book

<p>The Mooresville resident was looking for just the right book to teach her son the shapes and colors.</p><p>Jodi Scheve’s son Jude also loved farm animals, and she wanted a book that would combine the lessons and cover Jude’s love of animals.</p><p>She scoured the shelves at department stores and book stores and searched online for the book.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>Scheve never found what she was looking for.</p><p>So, the Greenwood Community High School graduate decided to write her own book.</p><p>“Old MacDonald Had a Farm with Lots of Shapes &amp;amp; Colors,” was recently released. The book is currently available on <a href="http://www.twistedwick.com">www.twistedwick.com</a> and will soon be available on amazon.com for $10. Amanda Pence, an art teacher at Saints Francis and Clare, illustrated the book.</p><p>“I tried to make a book just for (Jude),” Scheve said. “This one seemed to fit with Jude’s personality.”</p><p>The idea to turn the popular nursery rhyme into a basis for the book was used after Scheve was unsuccessful in finding a book that had all of the elements she wanted.</p><p>The tale follows a farmer around his land and covers the shapes and colors he might encounter as he works his farm. The book also features unique shapes that are not found in most other children’s books, she said.</p><p>Scheve looked for an illustrator to help bring pictures and color to her story. She found her older son’s art teacher, Pence.</p><p>Pence attended art school with the focus of illustrating children’s books, so, she wanted to help Scheve bring her story to life. She added an extra twist by drawing a chicken on every page that the little readers could hunt for as they read the book, Pence said.</p><p>“I want it to be fun for them to read and look at the picture, I want them to want to turn the page and see what is coming next,” she said.</p><p>Scheve paid about $4 a book to have it self-published and began selling the book to recoup some of the costs and to allow other children the opportunity to read the book and get the lesson out of it, she said.</p><p>Writing a children’s book for her son is not new to Scheve.</p><p>Her Old MacDonald book is the latest of four books she has written.</p><p>When her oldest son Richie was younger, she wanted a book that would show all of the letters of the alphabet, including upper and lowercase letters. Then, she wanted a book that would allow him to see every number between one and 100. Later, she wrote a book about Richie saving Nashville. Those books have sold about 500 copies, she said.</p><p>Most customers saw one of her books at a shop in Nashville or at a book trade show and have become repeat customers for her books, Scheve said.</p><p>Now as her sons get older, she might write a book about bullying and self-esteem, she said.</p>