Heaven Is But a Book Away

hen Char Goolsby's daughter Lauren, now 20, was a little girl, she was concerned that she was being exposed to sexually explicit and violent content at a young age. Two decades later, it still seems as though children have a hard time remaining "innocent" and being able to just be kids.

Like many parents, Goolsby is concerned that exposing children to such vulgar things could negatively influence their development and veer away from the parents' valuable lessons in community and interacting with others.

Because of her own struggles finding suitable content  for her daughter and her niece to read, experience and grow from, Goolsby, along with Traci Ricks, created the children's book Finding Heaven.

"Kids don't have the opportunity to be children," Goolsby, a native Detroiter, tells BLAC. "They’re just inundated from every angle with things that children shouldn’t be concerned with. There’s so much overt sexuality involved with everything we see and experience."

"The genesis for the launch of this book and brand was the birth of my daughter Lauren — she’s now 20 — and then my niece, who is now 12," Goolsby adds. "When I went out and started looking for things that would be appropriate for them to read, experience and play with, I found it a bit of a challenge. I couldn't really find things that supported our values, our family values and things that really allowed her to be herself in a very positive light."

"Finding Heaven" is a story about a young girl named Lillian Brown and her band of friends, who go off and partake in adventures where they learn how to be kind to each other and tap into their own humanity.

In addition to the book, Goolsby and Ricks have created the Lil Brown Brand, which they hope will grow into a storefront, interactive website, a line of dolls reflecting the characters in "Finding Heaven" and more books.

"I came up with this notion that I would create this brand that would be appropriate for all children, not just children of color," Goolsby says, "I want to create a brand that parents would really feel safe leaving their children with or having them experience."

In the near future, Goolsby and Ricks aim to continue the book series, releasing the second book and the forthcoming website within the next six months.

You can purchase "Finding Heaven", learn more about the Lil Brown Brand and authors by visiting lilbrownbooks.com.