Education Alumna Publishes Two Children’s Books
A Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice graduate is celebrating the publishing of two children’s books she co-authored with her husband, Manswell Peterson.
Latonya Peterson graduated from NSU with her M.S. in Criminal Justice, and her Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership. She currently works fulltime as a Criminal Justice professor at American InterContinental University.
In that role, she has published articles and even a victimology book. However, she recently stepped into a different kind of writing role: that of a children’s author.
Alongside her husband, Peterson wrote two children’s books: “Braylen The Bear & Friends: Forever Friends” and “Braylen The Bear & Friends: Snow Fight.”
“It took about a year for me to actually write the book. I had to sit down, go over research trying to decide what I wanted the plot to be, but we finally published,” she said.
The two books follow the adventures of a young bear named Braylen. The first book, “Forever Friends” covers topics of friendship, sharing and helping each other. The second book, “Snow Fight” focuses on the building new friendships.
Latonya Peterson
Peterson said her motivation was her love for children and desire to create something for them. The titular character, Braylen, is also inspired Peterson’s own 11-year-old son Braylen.
“He would go, check out books and the stories were always interesting to me, and I was like, ‘One day, I’m going to write a book.’”
Well, after a year-long process, Peterson achieved her goal. The first book was published in late October and the second book was published on Nov. 1, her son’s 11th birthday.
“He was very excited about that,” she said. “He’s read both of them and I really love doing it for kids.”
Peterson said her husband will likely keep the series going and that while she did enjoy the project, she doesn’t have any immediate plans to write any other books.
“If I do in the future, it will be years from now,” she laughed.
Congratulations Latonya Peterson! We love to see you doing what you love!
Posted 11/20/22