How a True Story Became a Children's Book

How a True Story Became a Children's Book

By M.B. Paradise
Every children's book starts somewhere.

Some start with a dream. Some start with a character that arrives fully formed in an author's imagination. Some start with a problem a writer wants to solve or a lesson they want to teach.

Beach Santa started on a beach, on an ordinary afternoon, with a generous stranger with a pocket full of tiny conch shells.

And I almost missed it entirely.
An Ordinary Day at the Beach

It was a regular summer Saturday at the shore. No plans beyond sun, sand, and “shell searching”.

My kids were doing what kids do at the beach — searching near the water's edge for shells. And they were pretty vocal about the fact that they weren't finding good ones. If you have children, you know the energy. The announcements to no one in particular that this beach has no shells. The disappointment.

Nearby, a fisherman was doing his own thing. He was older, with a long white beard, a safari hat, and a fishing vest — the kind of man who looks like he has been coming to this exact spot for decades. He was minding his own business, casting his line, perfectly content in his own quiet world.

But he was listening.
The Moment Everything Changed

Noticing their frustration, the fisherman reached into his vest and tossed perfect shells onto the sand.

At first, my kids didn't notice. They kept searching, eyes down, scanning the same stretch of shoreline they'd already covered three times.

Then the fisherman looked over and said, simply — "Hey, you forgot to look over here."

My kids turned. And there they were — perfectly shaped, shimmery seashells, scattered on the sand like they had always been there. My children scooped them up, cupped them in their small hands, and came running to me with the particular breathless excitement that only a child who has found treasure can produce.

"Look what that fisherman gave us, “one of them said, eyes wide. "He's kind of like a Beach Santa."

I felt something shift in that moment. A little spark.

From Spark to Story

I had tried one other time to write a children’s book and let’s just say it was a flop.  It may LOOK easy but writing a book is a tall task, especially alongside being a working mom.

But that evening, I couldn't stop thinking about that fisherman.

About the fact that he didn't have to do anything. It was 100% a random act of kindness.  He could have kept fishing, kept to himself, let my kids walk away empty-handed. Nobody would have known. Nobody would have blamed him.

But he chose kindness anyway. Quietly. Without fanfare. Without expecting anything in return.

And because of that one small choice, my children experienced a moment of pure, unexpected joy. A ripple effect of positivity — set in motion by one generous stranger with a long white beard.

That, I realized, was a story worth telling.

Bringing Beach Santa to Life

From that spark came a lot of questions. What if Santa — the Santa — had a life after Christmas? What if, when his work was done and the world was asleep, he didn't simply disappear? What if he went somewhere to rest, to recharge?  What if he liked the same things that we do…surfing, snorkeling and fishing?

And what if, even on his day off, even when no one was watching, he still couldn't help but be generous?

I began to write.

The hand-drawn illustrations were essential from the beginning — I wanted Beach Santa to feel warm, personal, and real. Not slick or digital, but the kind of art that feels like it was made with love. Because it was.

The fishing vest made it into the book. So did the long white beard. And of course — the shells.

Meant to Be?
Maybe this book was meant to be.  Maybe that fisherman and I were at that exact beach, at that exact time for a reason. MAYBE, it’s all to tell a bigger story that kindness really exists in the world. Because there really are people out there — strangers— who toss shells onto the sand for children they don't know, just because they can.

And if a fun, playful book about an off-duty Santa can do that — if it can plant that seed in one child's heart — then that afternoon was about so much more than shells.
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*Beach Santa is available on Amazon and in select stores. A Spanish edition — Papá Noel de la Playa — is also available. A free Story Hour Kit with coloring and activity pages is available for download at mbparadise.com, along with a Teacher Resource Kit for $5.00.*


To learn more, follow along on Instagram or Facebook at @mbparadiseauthor.