Assistant professor of music and director of athletic bands Dr. Wesley Parker will publish a children’s book this summer, and his second book is already scheduled for publication as well. The idea to write a children’s book came from his experience as a father, Parker said. He sat down with his 5-year-old daughter at a laptop and said he wanted to see what they could come up with.
“I have two kids and we love to read books that are fun and outright silly,” Parker said. “After about 45 minutes of laughing on one Sunday afternoon, I had what became my first book.”
Parker said the story of the book is about a princess who is getting old and going through a series of hilarious and unconventional means to find a prince. If she cannot find a prince by her next birthday, she has to surrender her life as a princess.
Despite his schedule of teaching and directing a band, Parker said he can write almost anywhere and he jots down ideas frequently. When he gets a little time, he takes one of those ideas and begins to develop it.
“I do teach quite a bit and balancing that with church, family and various other things can be very demanding,” Parker said. “Luckily for me, I can usually get ideas down relatively fast, so while someone might watch television for a couple hours, I will write a children’s book instead.”
After he wrote the first story for his daughter, Parker could not help but wonder what it would be like to have a book printed for her, just as a gift from her dad. On a whim, Parker decided to send the book to a publisher to see what would happen, thinking that he would never get it professionally published.
“A month or so later I received an email saying that my book had been accepted for publication,” Parker said. “I literally screamed in my car all the way home. I’m sure people thought I had lost my mind.”
According to Parker, his inspiration for writing comes from his children because he is motivated to be a good father.
“More than anything I hope to be a good example for my children,” Parker said. “People mention success and the industry certainly makes that a top priority, but while that is great, it isn’t my focus. I would just find it so enjoyable to know that some kid chuckled when they read my story.”
Now that he has finished writing a story for his daughter, Parker said he wanted to write another story for his youngest son because he found it much more difficult to find books that were written directly to the appeal of boys.
“The next book introduces a boy that has a huge imagination which sometimes gets him in trouble,” Parker said. “It’s a funny book and I can’t wait to share it.”
