When Donna Lloyd starting snapping pictures in 2009, she had no idea it would lead to her becoming a published author. The Woodbury Elementary School kindergarten teacher now has her own publishing company, DL Bookworm, with four titles and plenty more in the works.
Lloyd’s journey to becoming an author began when her husband, an avid photographer, gave her a couple of old cameras. She began snapping photos around the arboretum near her home. Eventually, she stumbled upon Capture Minnesota, an online community of photographers that inspired her to take her skills to the next level.
In 2012, Lloyd entered the photo competition of this very magazine—the Focus on Woodbury photo contest—and was awarded first prize. It inspired her to do even more with her photos. Around the same time, she noticed one of the students in her class had developed an interest in spiders. Realizing that she had a large collection of insect photos in her arsenal, she decided to combine her two passions, photography and education, and create a set of children’s books that help kids learn to read. “I feel it is essential we find books that pique students’ interests,” Lloyd says. “My goal is to have my books help students develop a passion for reading.”
Over holiday break in December 2012, Lloyd put together some books to share with her class. The kids began taking them home, and it inspired her to explore getting the books published.
She lucked out that the mother of one student was a graphic designer who agreed to help design the covers and assist with layout. Lloyd brought the books to a local publisher but realized working with a company would be too expensive. In early 2014, she launched DL Bookworm.
As a first-time author, Lloyd ran into a few snags. She had no idea, for example, how difficult it would be to find the right font for young readers. “For a beginning reader, a font is very important,” she says. “One of the fonts would be good but then you would get a letter that didn’t look right.”
She overcame these hurdles with help from her graphic designer and advice from other authors. And by creating her own company, she was able to make the books completely her own. “One of the reasons I started my own company is because I can be very specific in how it’s laid out,” Lloyd says. Her desire was to include a study guide and teacher resource on the back of each book. Most publishing companies would not allow her to do this, as they wanted their info stamped on the back cover.
The choice to go it alone proved wise, as Lloyd’s books have been a hit with teachers and students. For future books she writes (her first four focused on insects), she plans to include different reading levels so every student can be involved in the unit regardless of how advanced their skills are. This is very important to Lloyd, because it makes it easier for teachers to teach and for students to learn.
Kathy Schaefer, a first grade teacher at Woodbury Elementary School, uses Lloyd’s books in her classroom. She says the study materials on the back of the books are invaluable, but what really grab the kids’ attention are the photos. “They love the books because of the pictures,” Schaefer says. “The photos are just awesome.”
This should come as no surprise, of course, since Lloyd’s photographs inspired the books. At the time, she had no idea her photography would help kids learn to read. Not bad for what started out as a hobby.
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For more information on Donna Lloyd’s books, go to dlbookworm.com.
