Chris Jacobson with his sons, Carter, left, and Dawson, the inspiration for his children’s books.
PINELLAS PARK – Some fathers play sports with their sons, while others might take them fishing or camping. Christopher Jacobson writes books for his sons.
The manager of a check and credit card fraud investigations team for a St. Petersburg company by day, Jacobson, a Pinellas Park resident, is quick to admit that he isn’t really a writer. He just saw how much his sons – Carter, 7, and Dawson, 12 – loved to read. So he penned homemade stories, incorporating his sons into them and providing illustrations, to help teach them valuable life lessons.
In his first book, “Chase is on the Case,” Chase, a raccoon detective based on himself, takes on the case of Dawson’s missing favorite toy truck. Dawson is quick to blame his younger brother Carter for taking the toy. With only a half-eaten cookie, an empty juice box, and a dirty shirt as clues, Chase helps solve the mystery, and along the way teaches Dawson not to jump to conclusions and be so quick to blame his baby brother for things.
“They loved seeing themselves in the book,” Jacobson said. “They thought it was so cool. It’s exciting to see the kids excited about it.”
His sons, who were respectively 2 and 7 when he first wrote the book, excitedly showed off the book to their friends. His wife did the same with her friends. With this encouragement, Jacobson decided to submit it to publishing companies. Within six months, he received a response from Tate Publishing, which published the book in September. He plans to base a whole series around the character of Chase.
“I’m not a writer,” he said. “It’s just something for me to do with my kids. I’m really lucky it got picked up.”
The best part is, he said, now that his kids are getting older they assist him with the writing, giving him ideas to use in his books.
“Now we can all be writers. It’s been a really great bonding experience for my sons and myself,” he said.
All profits from this and any future books he publishes will be donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters.
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