Once upon a time, there was a Peabody graduate who was nanny to four children. After washing the family dog one day, she was inspired to write a children鈥檚 picture book called The Great Dog Wash. She entered it in a contest and won! The book was published by a famous New York publishing house and put into 1.5 million boxes of Cheerios. The End.
Like most true stories, this one is a bit more complex, and it certainly hasn鈥檛 ended for Shellie Braeuner. Like all good tellers of tales, she started early and has built on her craft.
鈥淎ccording to my parents, I was telling stories from the moment I could talk,鈥� Braeuner says. 鈥淲hen the National Geographic would come, I would look through all the different pictures and string them together into a story. To this day, my sister swears I always knew how to read.鈥�
As a master鈥檚 student in human development counseling, Braeuner used stories therapeutically while working with adolescents. After becoming a nanny, she used stories to help her young charges deal with a move out of state.
鈥淲e would use Bambi, because those were the little figures that were in the McDonald Happy Meals at the time,鈥� Braeuner says. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 know anyone, so I would tell stories about Bambi鈥攚hat was it like, how do you think he felt when this or that happened鈥攁nd they could act them out.
鈥淭he family I nanny for said,鈥榊ou really need to publish some of these stories,鈥欌�� Braeuner says. 鈥淢y family had been telling me this all along, but I had pooh-poohed the idea, because they鈥檙e my family. But when they said it, I thought, well, maybe so.鈥�
I鈥檇 love to have the kind of writing career where kids could enjoy my books in their parents鈥� laps and then move on to enjoy my books at other ages.
After moving back to Nashville with the family about five years ago, Braeuner made a concerted effort to become a professional children鈥檚 book writer. She joined the Society for Children鈥檚 Book Writers and Illustrators and started attending workshops and conferences, learning from published writers, editors and illustrators. One editor encouraged her to enter more contests, which led to her entering the Cheerios Spoonful of Stories on the last day of the contest.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have a lot of time to agonize over every word鈥� Braeuner says. 鈥淭hey said what they really liked about it was its energy, its humor and that it鈥檚 as simple as possible.鈥�
Now, Braeuner not only has more confidence in herself and her work, she also has an agent.
鈥淚鈥檝e got a couple of picture books, a middle-grade novel, and I鈥檓 working on a young adult novel,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檇 love to have the kind of writing career where kids could enjoy my books in their parents鈥� laps and then move on to enjoy my books at other ages.鈥�
That would make for a very happy ending.