Local man writes children’s book to inspire young minds

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — When you’re looking for a storybook to read to your child and you can’t find the right one, what do you do? Write your own, of course.

A few years ago, Travis Corpening decided to write a children’s book entitled The Adventures of Lucas and Alyci.

“My son was born in 2013 and my wife and I noticed, as we were going through books to teach him basic things, there weren’t a lot of choices, even on television and cartoons that he could see himself in lead roles,” Corpening said.

That’s when he decided to create his own book.

“It allowed him to see himself in lead roles and also other children who might feel the same way could also imagine themselves in the lead role,” he said.

Corpening, who holds a Master’s Degree in Liberal Studies from UNCW, has conducted research about the impact of exposing young kids to characters in storybooks who look like them.

“That actually contributes a lot to educational outcomes,” he said. “Being able to identify not only with children in the books and images around the classroom, it makes you feel like the system can work for you as well.”

In Corpening’s book, Lucas is a little boy who’s father is an engineer and comes home one day with a surprise, a robot named Alyci.

“Lucas uses Alyci to go on all these adventures and this is a series so this will be the first one in several coming out,” Corpening said.

Lucas’ adventures usually pertain to science. Corpening says he hopes his book inspires young people.

“I hope it allows them to think or realize that your ideas can matter,” Corpening said. “Lucas draws on the robot screen and what he draws creates this whole different world and that’s why the book says ‘all your cool ideas.'”

So far, Corpening has introduced his book to students in several local schools and he’s received positive response.

“It’s been awesome, overwhelming really, because I’ve never really done anything like this before and hearing the kids say this is a great story, there’s nothing like that feeling of hearing a kid say that,” he said.

You can find out more about Corpening and his book at allyourcoolideas.com.