Meet Francie!

She can glide like a swan, dabble like a duck and cut through the water like a cormorant. So when she sees her older cousins diving like gannets from the high diving board, she wants to do that too.

Inspired by my memories of being a child with a bigger body shape who wasn’t very sporty but who felt capable and graceful in the water, I really wanted Francie to have a bigger body type. It’s slowly getting better, but I still think there’s a lack of representation of diverse bodies in children’s books.

I hope Francie shows kids that, with courage, they can face their fears and strive for things out of their reach, learning along the way to accept their limitations and do it their own way. Just like gannets whose short legs and webbed feet make them slow, clumsy waddlers on land, but who transform into Queens of the Sea when they dive.

I’m so happy with how @debi_hudson has illustrated Francie and I can’t wait for everyone to meet her in this joyous celebration of one little fledgling who wants to be a gannet.

Like A Gannet is out October 1st by @windyhollow Publishing.