Dear One

"Dear One" began as a love letter to author Emily Karlichek's son, Killian. In writing about the joy and the bittersweet nature of watching the child she loves growing, Emily found a feeling most parents and caregivers can relate to - watching with excitement as the little dear ones in their lives grow, while yearning for time to slow down. Killian was born in July 2014, and as Emily has continued to watch him grow and change, she has kept mental snapshots, physical notes and journal entries about all the things she wants to tell him, her hopes for him, about all she feels as his mother. This book is a simple story with an emotionally complex yet universal message for anyone who has cared for a small child. The story is about a parent helping their child "wind down" at the end of the day, and during this time, while looking lovingly at their child's hair, facial features and little fingers, feeling through the beautiful struggle of parenthood: excitement watching them grow paired with sadness that they cannot stay little. Emily has lived as a mother with big dreams and hopes for her son's future, while holding tight to each precious moment before it passes and he grows any older. This internal battle is fought and felt by parents, grandparents, caregivers and adults of all kinds who have a special child in their life. This book is a monument to loving a small child with all your heart - and feeling every part of that journey. This project was very unique in the exercise of collaboration with many talented artists; Emily chose photographs of her family, and asked six different artists to each produce several illustrations for the book. This mix of artwork added several key elements to the book that Emily felt were very important: variety of artistic mediums and styles, diversity of artists who bring different backgrounds to the project, and an opportunity to show families of different compositions. Emily wrote the book with universal themes, keeping parents and caregivers of all kinds in mind. It was crucial to her to bring a diversity of perspectives to the project through the visual telling of her story.