Writing books aren’t an easy feat. Even the thought of writing something as simple as a paragraph can send chills. But when author Heddrick McBride grew tiresome of the books he was reading to his 5-year-old named Skylar, he knew he had to do something. After receiving his degree in Political Science at Morgan State University in 2002 and traveling back to New York after working at a group home in Baltimore for three years, an idea sprung in his mind. Every night when it was time for bed, Heddrick would read to his daughter. Upon reading to Skylar one night, he began to feel he was reading too many books that were outdated and not representing families like his own and the people of today. So McBride instead of grumbling about his dissatisfaction started to write a book of his own.
It first started in his living room when he began to write down things he felt were not normally said. It would as a result provide “a voice to those not normally represented in children’s books.” In here, only supplied with his computer and his imagination, McBride continued writing from February of last year until he was finished. Finished with his works all grounded in teaching the basic and fundamental skills and values he felt were missing in today’s technology based world. Some of the most popular stories written even include stories from his own daughter Skylar called
Sky’s Stories. Others like Parkville High, which is a book about four disabled teenagers, include the principles mentioned above. He also was able to write a book with his long time high school friend basketball player and Lakers’ very own Ron Artest (Metta World Peace) on a collection of stories called Metta’s Bedtime Stories. A total of 16 books were written in his first year with Metta’s book coming after. “Making quality work and having the money to make good works can be a challenge”, says Heddrick but that notion hasn’t stopped him yet. As stated in our interview, he is committed to educating because as Heddrick knows “a good book lasts forever.”
Aside from this, Heddrick wants people to keep in mind a few things. The first is for up and coming authors to think outside the box and create a lane for themselves when writing and also, for parents to read to their children as much as they can because it helps greatly with communication, confidence, public speaking, and the overall feeling of being smart. “I feel blessed to have the opportunity to provide a book series for children" says author Heddrick McBride. "I always hoped to be a basketball player as a child but, this is more meaning [full] to society.” And for that Heddrick, I as well as many others couldn’t ask for more. So in honor of Heddrick McBrides’ motivation and willingness to educate as well as make the effort to speak for those who are not heard, I and everyone else at UHE-TV would like to congratulate Heddrick on being our first and honorary author in UHETV-Kids Blog’s Author in the Spotlight!
