LITERATURE
Building a Board Book How motherhood inspired Sally Collins to write by Grace Johnson photos by Luke Collins
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s a girl, Sally Collins would send letters to Pleasant Company – the publishers of the American Girl doll series – offering her writing services and storytelling prowess. Although the company never took the 10-year-old up on her offer, Collins eventually realized her dream of getting her work published through the release of her children’s board book, Door County Animals. “My friends have started to own businesses, put their stuff out there and are starting to invest more in themselves,” Collins said. “That’s really inspiring, and I felt I could do this.” Her interest in writing was in the realm of fiction – and she has a novel in the works – but it was the birth of her daughter, Greta, in 2019 that put Collins on the course to writing children’s books. “I’m really excited about this novel, and I plan to publish it and want to do a good job, but as I was writing it, we started to go through IVF [in vitro fertilization],” Collins said. “I realized that writing a novel is extremely emotionally draining, especially because I tend to want to write about sad topics.” When she and her husband, Luke, found out they were pregnant, they started to collect children’s board books during their travels as little mementos that they could share with their daughter.
“I had the assumption that it would take me such a long time to decide on layout, color palettes and the overall vibe,” Smith said. “However, once I had the rough sketches created, it was only about an hour until it was flowing out of me and into art boards. It all just felt right, which is the best thing an artist could ask for.” When Collins received the illustrations back from Smith, she took them to her young
A young artist named Riley Smith was working for Luke, and Collins started to see her illustrations on social media. She knew immediately that Smith’s work was a perfect match. When Collins approached Smith about the project, she hesitated until meeting with the author. “Sally’s constant encouragement and support made me feel confident that if she believed in me, then I should, too,” Smith said. “She knew that I was capable of creating something beautiful that she was proud to put her name on.”
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The two worked in tandem to realize Collins’ dream. Even though Collins
Smith
“I wanted something special for the tots of Door County – visitors and locals
Collins decided to focus on the natural beauty of Door County, showcasing various creatures and critters that one would find here in their natural habitats. Collins jotted down rhymes in spare moments with Greta and began to plan the book’s layout, even considering illustrating the story herself. But, after an attempt to draw a goat went poorly, Collins decided to look elsewhere to find the perfect illustrator match.
had an idea of what she wanted the layout to be, she gave Smith a lot of room to create.
Riley
After a search for a Door County– themed board book came up with nothing, Collins decided to pick up her pen and started writing again, but this time in rhyme.
alike – especially after seeing other beautiful board books in other parts of the U.S. that we bought and continue to look at to talk about our travels and experiences,” she said.
llins.
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door county living / doorcountypulse.com
