A Williams Lake father has been inspired for the second time to write and self-publish a book for his children.
Naden Parkin’s new book, You Are Loved, was created for his sons Finnigan and Sullivan.
In 2020 he wrote and published The Girl Who Was Brave Enough, inspired by wanting to write a letter to his daughter Hadley Parkin in case something happened to him.
It’s the story of a little girl whose father helps her to grow up to be resourceful and brave.
“I realized I couldn’t just have a book for my daughter and I wrote the second story.”
In Your Are Loved, a man rescues a village’s cow from the clutches of a dragon.
He is able to do so because he recalls that his mother told him he had to be brave and try his hardest every day. When he fell down he needed to get back up again and if he felt alone to know that he was loved.
“Both books are about believing in yourself, having courage and knowing you are loved. Originally we were going to call the second book, Be Brave, but then You Are Loved felt stronger than just being brave. If one person loves you, you can be brave.”
Illustrations for both books were done by Cortney Warr, an artist and educator from Grand Prairie, Alta, who Parkin and his wife Angela Gentles became friends with when they were living there.
“Kid book art, it’s kind of what she does,” he said of Warr’s work. “She is very artistic.”
Flipping the cover, he showed how the inside has end pages that are covered in illustrations.
“She just wanted to add some more.”
In 2014 he published A Relationship With Truth: Poems and Verse Born in the Canadian Oil Patch and toured book stores in Alberta and Saskatchewan over a two-month period.
“I have another book of poetry I am going to be releasing and I have a novel that’s almost done. It’s about the oil patch as well.”
He’s also been developing a board game.
“I am not a TV guy,” he said of why he enjoys creating things. “I’ve got a sawmill, we have lots of animals. I coach soccer and hope to coach hockey one day when our children are older.”
His wife is originally from Williams Lake.
The two met through her sister who was renting a condo from Parkin in Grand Prairie.
Angela was teaching and he was working in the oil patch, but when they started having children they decided they wanted to move to Williams Lake to be closer to family.
Around that time an old boss of his called to let him know there was a job opening up in B.C. for a supply company selling non-oil field drilling equipment and he could live anywhere in mid to northern B.C.
In 2019 they made the move and bought a home with 10 acres on the edge of the city.
When their third child was on the way, he realized he did not want to work out of town anymore and went to work for Wyatt Marketing Inc. in Williams Lake.