Canada’s wildlife and landscapes the focus of local kids book series

With four self-published books, this local couple is starting to break through with Canadian Animals now available for purchase at an Edmonton Chapters location. 

Canadiana at its finest.

With a voice that sounds quintessentially Canadian, Bonnyville local Landon Boser and his wife Grace are now authors, and are seeing growing interest in their children’s book series.

It’s called Canadian Animals, meant for kids young and old to learn and love the variety of wildlife that the country features.

Like many, they consider themselves admirers of the great outdoors, and the beauty that Canada’s wilderness offers, to those at home and tourists alike.

“The goal is really just to share our love of animals with kids,” Landon Boser told Lakeland Connect. 

“Grace and I were living on Vancouver Island. And that was actually the inspiration for the first book that was based on the animals…we wanted to make something that would include the animals, the sights, the mountains, the trees, and give it our own little twist. And put it in a way, that kids young, or old, somewhere in the middle, can read and find a little piece they love.”

Focus across the country

It’s a bit of a new world for these two getting into the publishing game. Landon has a background in oilfield sales and Grace as a elementary teacher.

Now through self-publishing tools that services like Amazon can provide, they’ve started to take this vision and run with it.

Vancouver Island was the first idea, but three more quickly followed in the past year.

Each one focuses on a different area of the country, the Prairies, Maritimes, and Northern Territories.

The book is supplied with Grace’s illustrations, which she has able to do while on maternity leave.

“During that time of cuddling my baby, I was like, you know, I could probably do something creative. It was fun,” she said.

Jumping from local farmer’s markets, taking the book to the Bonnyville Municipal Library gave Landon the confidence to explore gaining retail outlet support.

And now, it’s available in Coles in Lloydminster, and at a Chapters location in Edmonton with they hope more to follow.

“I did the Alberta thing if you will, where I just decided to bootstrap it, get on the phone, make some calls,” Landon said. 

“After a few phone calls, in one meeting, we got all four of our books into Chapters Southpoint in Edmonton.” 

The Bosers will be doing a book reading in Bonnyville on April 27 and in Lloydminster on May 4.

Ideas are also in the works to expand into a new series.