Aren’t we all in search of the unique and inspirational? Okay, sometimes we want the comfort of the ordinary vetted thing—like the basic, tasty enchiladas served up the same way every time at our reliable neighborhood restaurant.

When it comes to books, though, don’t we usually want to find unique and inspirational stories, meaningful ones with a message that strums the heart? I don’t think we ever stop looking for stories to help us build character.

The children’s books made by Brandy Pie Book Company are certainly not ordinary. Part of the reason is that our team of creators are making them completely outside the big publishing house rules and methods. Much of the time, our humble team may not even know the rules that underly the publishing industry. Our life experiences have been gained in other professions. Sometimes, not knowing the “rules of the game” leads to fresh results.  

The inspirational trainer Tony Robbins brought on guest Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, to demonstrate this concept at his recent event, the “Become Unshakeable Challenge.” When Sara wanted to present her innovative product idea she developed in her living room to an industry powerhouse, she didn’t know the “rules” about contacting someone in power in a large corporation. She took innocent and logical steps that didn’t fit the rules. She didn’t give up, and her actions worked!

I started Brandy Pie Book Company after a career as a lawyer and after seeing a need for stories with classical values. In our first year(2022) many families discovered us from an article by Anita Sherman in The Epoch Times. Families bought books, told their friends and librarians about us, and we are on our way!

I learned from a friend about another lawyer-turned-children’s-book-maker—Kya Johnson. Her beautiful venture is called RainbowMe. She has added a technology, augmented reality, to turn her books into a four-dimensional experience. RainbowMe makes unique and inspirational stories, based on fairytales and folktales, with diverse main characters of color.

You probably won’t find either Brandy Pie Books or RainbowMe kids’ books by searching the internet for “unique children’s books” or “inspirational stories for children” or “meaningful kids’ books” or “children’s books with a positive message.” I also didn’t find RainbowMe by searching “unique kids’ books with characters of color”.

While internet search engines can be very useful, we have to remember the limitations. They may not be the way to find unique and inspirational. Word of mouth, friends, book reviews, trusted sources once you find them, and just looking about instead of down on a screen might be better ways to find unique and inspirational.