Simsbury mother starts blog on diverse and inclusive children’s books

SIMSBURY, CT (WFSB) - One Simsbury mother struggled to find books she wanted to read to her children, so she became the change, with a blog!

Now she calls herself a “bookstagrammer.”

A mom on a mission lead to a lucrative literary blog.

“For me, myself I didn’t see myself reflected on the pages of books as much. So I wanted my children to have a different story. I wanted to change the narrative,” said Charnaie Gordon.

At the time, Charnaie had two kids and she worked as a computer programmer.

“I really needed a way to kind of release,” Charnaie said. “My friends around the same time were also having babies and they were asking well what books are you reading with your kids and I said you know? let me just start blogging about this.”

In 2015 she started Here Wee Read, compiling children’s books focused on diversity and inclusion.

She soon discovered it filled a void.

“My platform was growing, I was making money. I figured out how to monetize so that was it,” said Charnaie.

Publishers started to ask her to write her own books.

Big companies wanted to collaborate.

Then, in the summer of 2020, she left her job and went all in.

Around the same time the death of George Floyd sparked protests across the country.

“A lot of content creators that talk about diverse books saw a surge in followers,” Charnaie said.

And then the Oprah effect.

“When Oprah’s team reached out to me, I almost lost it because I’ve loved Oprah since I was nine years old,” said Charnaie.

She wrote a post for Gayle’s grandbaby and got 80,000 new followers in a single day.

“I think she’s really good and really successful,” said Madison Gordon, Charnaie’s daughter.

10-year-old Madison helps too.

Every book sale, podcast, and post is really paying off in more ways than one.

“It’s really nice to see yourself and I know mom, you didn’t really have that when you were a kid. So it makes me really happy that it’s there now,” Madison said.

Sounds like mission complete to me.

“I think when you do something out of a place of passion like true passion, you don’t know where it’s going to take you,” said Charnaie.

You can follow Charnaie’s Here Wee Read blog HERE. You can follow her on Instagram HERE.

Copyright 2023 WFSB. All rights reserved.