You can publish a children’s book: From ideas to ink

Writers, artists and an editor with a connection to the National Capital Region share how they made their literary dreams come true – and how you can, too

Editor’s Note: This story was a part of the series You can do it, which ran in the Spring 2026 issue.

The self-publishers

Bob McDuff’s passion has always been baseball.

The lifelong Trois-Rivières resident played baseball from 15 to 35 as well as managing the team.

“I loved the fact that baseball is played outside in the open air, as well as the camaraderie that exists among the teammates,” says McDuff. “I also very much appreciate all the strategy involved in the game.”

The same things drew an adult McDuff to the sport. He was the general manager of professional baseball team les Aigles de Trois- Rivières in 2014 and remains an ambassador for the team to this day. With his wife of 35 years, Nicole Girard, McDuff co-founded the Fernand Bédard Baseball Museum – Quebec’s only baseball museum – to chronicle Trois-Rivières’ 150-year history of baseball.

One thing turned into another. Having spent five years on research for the museum, it was only natural that the retired English teacher also write a book. The publishing of The Story of Professional Baseball in Trois- Rivières coincided with the opening of the museum in 2022.

McDuff and Girard were up for a rest when McDuff’s friend Paul Gauthier suggested his next project – a series of books on baseball for children.

Centred around a 13-year-old player, the Baseball Bob series is based on people from McDuff’s life in sport and on real-life historic figures.  

McDuff describes authoring children’s books as being “a very different experience” from the work on the history book, which involved going through boxes of archives and photos dating back to 1884.

“The Baseball Bob series is totally based on my memory of events and imagination,” McDuff says.

After putting out a call on Facebook for an illustrator, McDuff and Girard connected with Dominic Béliveau, whose ideas were similar to what McDuff had envisioned.

“It makes me feel so good,” says McDuff of his role as a children’s storyteller. “Especially when we receive messages from parents or grandparents telling me how their child has developed an interest in reading or how their child wants to read Baseball Bob every night before bed. When the kids write me letters, thanking me for my stories, I almost feel like I’m Santa Claus. Often times, the kids recognize me at the ballpark, and they want their picture taken with me. That’s amazingly rewarding.”

McDuff says there are very few books on baseball written with kids in mind, and that’s where Baseball Bob fills the niche. “Baseball Bob is very popular across Canada, mainly because of the Blue Jays,” says McDuff.

He praises his wife of 35 years for her hard work. “For me, the easy part is writing the stories,” says McDuff. Girard, the books’ editor and self-taught graphic designer had a tougher job, McDuff says.

More challenging still was finding a publisher. Upon sending out the manuscript to several publishing houses across Quebec and Ontario and hearing that the book with its numerous colour illustrations would be too expensive to print, the couple went the self-publishing route with no regrets.

 

Going the traditional route

After retiring from a 34-year teaching career, Dianne Koebel-Pede found more time and energy to devote to her writing, something she always loved to do.

“I also take many writing classes and courses,” says Koebel-Pede. “I have quite a few projects tucked away. There are novels, essays, poetry collections and many picture book stories.”

Koebel-Pede, who was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, has learned to see her diagnosis as a gift “I have a brain that loves to learn, have fun, and is constantly coming up with new ideas,” she says. Inspired by her own experience and that of past students who also have ADHD, Koebel-Pede wrote My Amazing Race Car Brain over five years ago.

“There were many revisions and I received feedback from my critique group partners along the way,” says Koebel-Pede. “I did lots of research, but my biggest inspiration was from my days in school.”

The book follows Sam, whose experiences either happened to Koebel-Pede or her students. “Readers of all ages have told me that Sam could be them,” she says. “The feedback that gives me the biggest feels is when readers say, ‘I wish there was a book like this when I was a kid.’ It also tugs at the heart strings when kids start proudly calling their brain a race car brain.”

Making a difference has always been important to Koebel-Pede. “Every time someone reaches out about My Amazing Race Car Brain and how they connect with it, I am grateful it made an impact,” she says.

The book was accepted for publication by DC Canada Educational Publishing – a small innovative Ottawa-based publisher of children’s books, games, and music.

The book fit in with the company’s mandate to empower all children, offer new perspectives on the world and build bridges between cultures.

“We not only seek to show each child as the hero of their story, but also that all kinds of kids are heroes in their own tales,” says DC Canada Educational Publishing’s editor, Kara Cybanski.

Stories like My Amazing Race Car Brain, which was launched at the Parent & Child Expo last fall, foster acceptance and understanding from a young age, Cybanski says. “Books like this one also encourage discussion and frame our differences in a positive light.”

The publishing company has seen an increased demand for more diverse children’s books in recent years, says Cybanski.

“We’ve been making an effort to depict different racial identities and family structures in our books, even if the stories aren’t about these differences. We love seeing how our little readers react to finding themselves in our pages. Helping kids feel represented is super rewarding.”

Koebel-Pede – who lives in Edson, Alberta – worked with Cybanski via Zoom and email to make the edits before it was the artist’s turn to bring it to life.

“Illustration and graphic design are forms of visual communication and storytelling,” says illustrator and graphic designer Dania El Khatib, who has worked on more than 40 children’s books in addition to My Amazing Race Car Brain.

“Instead of words and sentences, I play and juggle with colours, forms, and facial expressions to convey an idea, a mood or a feeling. Although most people think that this art form is mainly intuitive, it in fact requires a lot of thinking and sometimes some kind of problem solving.”

Koebel-Pede praised her colleague’s work. “The one idea I hoped Dania could work out was so any reader, boy or girl, would be able to see themselves as Sam. She did this brilliantly. A big part of the magic of picture books is that two artists each tell a story, one in words, one in pictures, and that becomes the book.”

Being fully pictured, children’s books are “an absolute treat” for an illustrator, El Khatib says.

“I am also a big fan of children’s book authors,” El Khatib says. “I find fascinating the fact that they write wholesome, diverse and heartfelt stories while being limited by a specific number of words that the age category requires. I fell in love with My Amazing Race Car Brain from the first reading,” says El Khatib. “Dianne is simply asking us to take a moment and notice in ourselves and in the others the beautiful and unique side of each one of us even if in appearance it does not fit properly into the expected image that a society requires.”

What comes next

Koebel-Pede and El Khatib are currently collaborating on their second book titled, Mia’s Massive Stash of Cash. Also to be published by DC Canada Educational Publishing, the book is a “humorous introduction to financial literacy,” Koebel-Pede says.

As for Baseball Bob, his adventures continue in McDuff’s sixth title, Baseball Bob and the Umpire, set for release this summer. “With all the intimidation going on targeting umpires and referees in minor league sports, I want to make everyone aware of this problem,” says McDuff. “No umpires and referees mean no games.”

 

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Want to be a creator?

Our writers and artists share their best advice.

• “Write about a subject you are passionate about. It won’t feel like work, and you won’t count the hours you are putting in.” – Bob McDuff
• “Always be ready to learn new skills and techniques.” – Nicole Girard
• “The road from a writer having a dream to becoming traditionally published is long and winding. Take classes, find a critique group, write as much as you can and read as much as you can.” – Dianne Koebel-Pede

 

Useful websites

baseballbob.ca

museedubaseball.com

dania-elkhatib.com/

pdplace.com/

dc-canada.ca/

ottawaparentingtimes.ca/real-talk-editor-to-editor/

 

How to be a children’s author

Read Parenting Times’ interview with DC Canada Educational Publishing’s editor Kara Cybanski on how to get published as a children’s author in Ottawa. Exclusively online at ottawaparentingtimes.ca/real-talk-editor-to-editor/