In the heart of Chicago, two dynamic women are reshaping the landscape of early childhood education and children’s literature. Tamera Fair and Tonia Evans, best friends and business partners, have combined their extensive experience in childcare to create The Purple Turtle: Modi’s Magical Adventures, a captivating book series that not only entertains but also empowers young readers. Their journey, marked by resilience and innovation, reflects a commitment to representation, imagination, and community upliftment.
What inspired the creation of your children’s book series?
Tamera: We have a chain of childcare facilities. I invited all of the admins [to a meeting one morning]. I was just up, because usually I’m up creating or shopping. I said, what we have so much childcare experience. Let’s think of some alternate ways of making them revenue streams, because Covid had shown us that we definitely needed to have a plan B and a plan C. So I asked all of them to come to a retreat at a hotel. They all said they were coming, and Tonia was the only one that showed up. We decided that we were going to put business and experience together. That formula created the children’s book series.
Tonia, why was it so important for you to show up to that meeting?
Tonia: People often think because we work 24/7, 25/8 for the both of us. They think,” Oh, it’s work related. I’m not coming. I’m not giving up my holiday.” Imagine, we were on break and I was the only one who showed up. It was just a great opportunity. She’s a brilliant person outside of just business.
Tell us the name of the series and any characters we should be familiar with.
Tonia: Absolutely. The book is The Purple Turtle Modi’s Magical Adventure. Modi is the main character. She has her friend Grapie. Book two is Be Brave. We have a five-part series. It’s a magical adventure. We created this like [Tamera] said during the time of Covid, and you wanted children to get back to print instead of swiping. It’s so much on the Internet now that it’s unreal. And this book depicts Black families, 2 parent households and family time. We also tied in using your imagination and you have to get the book to get the rest.
How do the characters Grapie and Modi help engage the children with the stories?
Tamera: We have an illustrator that’s dynamic. So the pictures jump off the page at the kids. And because we had such experience in childcare, we kind of knew what to do and what would garner and keep the children’s attention. So if you notice in the book [there are] pictures on one side [and] print on the other, so that you can constantly keep the children looking at the pictures.
And then kids always like a magical adventure, because they’re at that creative, imaginative space in their lives where everything that they do is fantasy. Right? So we just tapped into that fantasy and created even more. And it’s underwater. A lot of children fear water. We wanted to make sure that that fear was escaping them through the books, [and] then, mainly, too, because we wanted to make sure that our children saw themselves in print. We don’t see enough Black kids in print, and in a time where they’re banning our books, we wanted to expand our books.
Why is diversity and inclusion so critical?
Tamera: It’s something that our ancestors, our grandparents, our great grandparents, fought for and then we got it. To a certain extent we’ve never been on a level playing field, but we got some games, and now we see that those games are being diminished. – We have to make sure that our stories are not just the ones that the world sees, but the ones that we see. We see families having dinner together, playing together, going out to dinner together, and actually sitting and talking to one another. That’s where our generational wealth starts. – We had a generational wealth in our principles and values before the concept even infused money into it. So we’re just expanding that.
How has your experience operating Premier childcare centers helped shape the books?
Tonia: We do this daily. I have 183 kids here, [at] this one site. [And] they keep you going? They keep you going. So keep your imagination going. And it’s just like, Okay, what can we create to calm them. So we also have the turtle which is being promoted as a comfort. And you don’t have to pay for it on the plane as well. Right? This childcare is a passion. You must have a passion. Parents are gonna know if you’re doing it as a job or as a hobby, or if you really love their children, which we call our children. As soon as they cross the threshold, they become ours.
How has the reaction been from the children?
Tamera: Oh, tremendous –They personify the characters in the book, and don’t get me wrong. There are other characters, too. But the main characters really resonate with the children. In Book two there are mermaids. There are singing sharks. There are seahorses that are dancing. It’s just a whole whimsical situation that kids love.
