How Children's Books Can Plant Seeds of the Spirit with Dawn Caldwell DeWulf

In this episode, children's author Dawn De Wulf shares her journey of writing faith-based children's books, focusing on the fruits of the Spirit and the importance of planting seeds of faith early in life. She discusses her creative process, the lessons behind her series, and how she aims to inspire young readers to grow in their faith and character.

Chapters

 00:00 Introduction to Dawn Caldwell-DeWolf and Her Mission

02:17 The Picking the Fruit of the Spirit Series

04:44 Exploring the Themes of Patience, Sharing, and Kindness

07:33 Understanding Joy and Its Importance

09:49 The Latest Book: I Don't Like Faithfulness

13:04 The Importance of Faithfulness in Relationships

15:48 Dawn's Journey to Becoming a Writer

17:46 Favorite Books and Their Impact

20:42 What's Next for Dawn Caldwell-DeWolf

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Transcript

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This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity but reflects the full conversation from the BookWorthy Podcast. Grab a cup of coffee, listen, and read along.

The blog version of this episode is available at www.valeriefentress.com/blog

Valerie- Welcome to Bookworthy, where we discover children's books, board books to YA that your kids will love and you can trust. Today, we're talking with author Dawn Caldwell-DeWolf. She believes her purpose is to bring joy to young readers and help them deepen their relationship with Jesus while enjoying reading. Dawn is the author of the Picking the Fruit of the Spirit picture book series, which follows Molly and her grandfather Poppy as Molly tackles the challenge of walking a Christian life. Four books in the series so far, I've taken a look at Patience, Sharing, Kindness, and Joy with Molly. And the latest book in the series, I Don't Like Faithfulness, aims to help kids understand that work and faithfulness reap an award-winning harvest. Welcome to Bookworthy Dawn.

Dawn - Hi, I'm super excited to be here. I'm excited for what we're going to talk about.

Valerie - I'm excited to have you. It's kind of fun. We, I think it was three years ago, we met through some sort of cohort with, I think, Katherine Yarbrough or something like that. It's been fun to follow you.  It's been a while. connected somehow, and it's been fun. Yes. Yes. What happened today? I don't even know that. So yeah, three years ago. Well, to get us started, Dawn, we're going to do our random question of the week. And this week it is, would you choose a pumpkin spice latte or apple cider?

Random Question of the Week

Dawn - I'm gonna go against the grain like I always do. I'm not big on the pumpkin spice flavor. I don't know what it is. I like it in pumpkin pie, but I don't like to drink it. So we have like a couple of acres. So we have seven or eight apple trees. And I grew up eating or drinking apple cider, my grandpa made, Popp, -and now my husband's doing that for me. So I will go with apple cider, especially since this year, I think we're gonna have a lot. So I'd better get started getting prepared for that.

Valerie -  It's one of those funny things. I've asked this question multiple times over the years, and apple cider is the winner, majority of the time, with all the like pumpkin spice Oreos and pumpkins at this and that. It's one of those, like, okay, I'm surprised we like the traditional good, you know, rich flavors of apple cider. So it's been fun. Yep. All those fun things.

Dawn De Wulf (02:14.29)

good! Pumpkin Spice Latte!

Dawn - Yes. Yeah, so she was like warmed up, and yeah, on a cold day.

Valerie - And this seems like something for you, especially lots of memories that come with that drink as well. Too fun. Well, Dawn, why don't you tell us a little bit about your series?

Inspiration Behind the Fruit of the Spirit Book.

Dawn - Yes, yes, lots of memories. My series started kind of as an accident, which is how I usually stumble into things that I do. My first book, can you see it? I don't like patients. That was my first book, and I kind of just thought it was gonna be a standalone. It's based on something, a situation that a certain little girl I may remember from the past, myself, got into in the garden. My grandfather finally let me. I have my own little, in the planter box, my own little mini carrots. And I was super, super, super impatient, which I still struggle with, but I'm much better now. And he let me plant baby carrots in the planter box, and they were taking too long. So I may or may not have picked all of them, eaten them, and put the stems back. Not thinking he would notice, you know, as they've keeled over. So that's kind of the concept behind. Behind when I was writing the first book. And then I was praying about it and talked to my agent, Sharon Elliott, and she said, well, know, patience, you know, you could do a series. don't have each one of Through the Spirit. I was like, " That's a good idea. I started working on a little bit, and I was actually cleaning out. Now I'm dating myself. My old hope chest. And I found my grandpa, Poppy's, what's it called, program from his memorial service, which was in 2008. And as I flipped it over, you know, it has a picture of my grandpa on the front and everything, I flipped it over, and it had some, it had the verses all about the fruit of the spirit on the back of the program, which I hadn't remembered at all because I wasn't thinking about the program at the time. And I was like, there we go. I knew I had to do it. That was like my God sign that I have to do this because it just was so obvious to me that, you know, somebody's telling me you should write a series about the Spirit. And there it is. And I sent Poppy, and it's on the program with my Poppy. So I was like, okay, I got it. God, I got it. I'm slow with these things, but I got it.

Valerie - I love that, what's kind of, I don't know, I like a good inside joke, but you're talking about the fruits of the spirit in these books, but instead of taking fruits of the spirit, you're focused on vegetables, really, at least in the first book and this recent book. So I like a good joke.

Dawn - The first one. Yes. Yes. Well, you were. I veer off to the side sometimes and don't always stay in a straight line.

Valerie -What came after patience?

Dawn - After patience, I have sharing, which you know, you're like, I don't remember sharing beauty, the fruit of the spirit, but it's its generosity. Thinking about it, I thought generosity, for you know, if you're on the younger end of this reading spectrum age range for this, I thought generosity is a little difficult for three-year-olds. So I got I like sharing. Poppy shows up in all of them. Which is I, when I do like impersonate, like a parent's or book signings or whatever, I see that a lot of, especially parents of preschoolers, veer toward the sharing. I think that's a, that's a young, young learner, young reader type of thing that we all need to learn to share with adults too.

Valerie - Yes, it is one of those, once you learn how to do that with grace, things get a whole lot easier for you. And it usually takes, you what is it? Your fully developed frontal cortex and your adult brain are finally getting that thing. We have to go through so many years of this is not fair. This is mine. Blah, blah, blah.

Dawn -  Yes. Yes, it's so hard. It is so hard. It's so hard. I'm an only child, though, so I didn't have to share with anybody, which means later in life I needed to learn how to share. Yes. Yes.

Valerie- You had to learn it at a later time. All right, so we have patience and generosity. And what is book three?

Dawn - Book three is kindness. I also see a lot of three four-year-old but then also those that are going to school are really needing the kindness. Learning how to be kind, which we once again as adults.

Valerie - Yeah. There's a big difference between... There's a reason why they are in the Bible listed on repeat. Yes, yes. You it's one of those, you take kids that have really spent most of their life just in their own home and have managed their hierarchy and who's in charge, especially for the oldest. I think the oldest struggles with kindness the most, sometimes just because they're like, " My life has been impacted by just my siblings, but then they go into school, and like, there's all these people to deal with. I'm like, hold on. So it's very interesting, but yeah, it's interesting to see how we still struggle with these as adults too.

Dawn - Wait a minute. Yeah. Yes, that's why the Bible is there to remind us that we all need to... Hello, here's your reminder.

Valerie - Yes, yes, and sometimes we as parents are like reading the children's books, like, yeah, I need to remember that. Too fun. Okay.

Dawn - I do that to myself now and then. Now and then, I'm like, okay, Dawn, you wrote a book about patience. You might want to use some.

Valerie - God is very good at putting situations in front of us that are going to challenge us to be more like Jesus. Do fun. Okay, so we have patience, generosity, kindness, and what is book four? Joy.

Dawn - Joy, joy. And that one was actually, I'll say that was actually the hardest, and I'll say we, because I worked a lot with my illustrators, like my editing partner and her mom, she's also a writer. So we all kind of go back and forth. That one was difficult because if you think about it, it's difficult to explain to adults the real meaning of joy. And then trying to translate to explaining it to little kids, who know, having a person that is just starting to grasp it, explaining it to little kids. It's hard. It's hard to distinguish or explain the difference between happiness and joy. That happiness is based on your, your situation, things that are going on around you. Joy is something that you can have all the time with Jesus.  It's just, it's hard to put it into words for younger readers. We struggled with that one.

Benefits of Sand Paper People

Valerie - What was it? My son and I were, I guess, practicing evangelism a little bit. And so we were having a debate on love. It was one of those interesting things. It's a very hard thing to communicate exactly what this is. And our need for love, the reason why we need a savior, the reason why we need God, is that our desire to be loved and cherished and taken care of. So it was an interesting conversation on a very, very hard topic to nail down. All right. Well, tell us, say you need the sandpaper people in your life. Just the people who are going to rub you a little bit and smooth out your own edges.

Dawn - Yes. Yeah. God likes to challenge us a little bit.

Dawn-  Yes, that's some sandpaper people in my life. Mostly my daughters, mostly my daughters.

Valerie - What is it? They install the buttons in our like, in our system, know, that annoy us. And so yes, they are the best ones at pushing them.

Dawn - Yes, they do. Yeah, they do. But I love them. And they're adults now, but they still, you know, how to...

Valerie - Of course.  I know how to do it. Well, tell us about the latest book in this series.

The Heart Behind I Don’t Like Faithfulness by Dawn Caldwell DeWulf

Dawn - The latest book is I Don't Like Faithfulness. And in this book, Molly and her friends, I don't want to give away the whole thing, Molly and her friends, they're growing pumpkins for their community fall harvest festival. And while Molly and one of her friends are working diligently and following their directions and caring for their plants, they have another friend who's not so faithful. And we get to see what happens from her not being so faithful with caring for her plants and the results from that. And then how it kind of resolves at the end and Molly and the others realize that faithfulness is the way to go because look what happens if you are faithful, you get all these results, you know, in the book with your pumpkin growing really big, but in life with growing or becoming more and more faithful um is drawing you closer to Jesus because if you're faithful in the small things he is faithful in the large things he's also faithful in the small things too but

Valerie - You can be trusted with small things. You can be trusted with more. Yes. Well, I love how you did in the story. You didn't just focus on being faithful in work. You also talked about being faithful in friendship and how that applies to how we treat others. And I think that's something I haven't seen in books that discuss faithfulness. Because we talk about being faithful and being diligent and doing the things, and just keep on being disciplined to the goal at the end. But I loved how you brought in just, it's not just, you know, you do it yourself. It's a community of people. And I think you do that really well in this book. What made you want to kind of branch out to not just be so inwardly focused, which kids often are, but also outwardly focused in how we're faithful to the people around us.

Dawn – I think that's something that I honestly think God put in my heart, not just to focus on, know, hey, if you take care of it, clean your room, you know, you want to have an accident fall. If you water your pumpkin and pull the weeds, you'll get a great big pumpkin. But also, if you faithfully, how Molly faithfully offered her friend help. She didn't just criticize her friend when her friend was not taking care of her plants; she offered, saying, " You know, how about if I show you how to do this? How about if we do, you know, build a scarecrow and things like that to show that it's not just being faithful in tangible ways, it's being faithful in basically spiritual ways, showing Jesus to others by being faithful in your friendship. So I thought that was important to include that as well.

Valerie - I love that you included that, and it's kind of, it a fun element that is hard for kids to grasp because we talk about, you know, being a faithful friend, but what does that even look like? But you do a great job of communicating that through Molly's actions that, you know, she didn't judge, she didn't, you know, criticize, she chose to step in and help. And I think that is the heart of what we want kids to have as they walk into a Christian worldview. And so that's really cool. With this particular book, we've got we know the goal is to talk about faithfulness, but what do you really hope kids will enjoy the most out of this story?

Dawn – I try to keep my books on the fun side, not pre not as preachy. I want them to have this to have the experiences or see the characters having the experiences that they can relate to, that they go, there's another kid like me, who has a hard time being kind, as you know, talking about the kindness, but also has a hard time being patient, like me. So, I also have the books, in the world that we're in with all the technology and everything, we're absolutely, and our kids are actually absolutely slammed with every day. I wanted to get something. I feel like the younger the readers, the younger we can grab their attention and grab their hearts and point them towards Jesus, the better. I grew up literally in a church every day but Saturday because I went to school there, and I went to church there Sunday morning and Sunday night. Wednesday night, my mom, I will tell you, my mom had me there. I was there. And I learned so many good lessons, even things I remember now, learning when I was really young, or else something will spring to my mind. I had Father Abraham in my mind the other day. I wanted to do the motions and everything. And I was like, wow, know, when you really reach young people's, or kids' hearts and minds, it can stay there. It'll stay there, and it gets planted. There's my planted, I tied that in, it. It gets planted in their hearts and then, you know, as you nurture it, it just starts to grow and grow and grow and branch out, like, you know, plants do as trees do with the roots, your roots spread. And I really, that's, that's been on my heart that to get them while you're, they're young, really, not to be like, you have to do this, this, this, but to, to show them that if you, if you plant yourselves in the Lord, if you plant yourselves in Christ, you will see these fruits, you have to be diligent and you have to focus on Jesus, but you will see these fruits in your life and you can share them with others, which then shows others that Jesus loves them too. We're so greatly, greatly loved. wanted them, I want kids to realize that. I feel like I knew everything growing up. Jesus loves me, I know that. But to know now as an adult just how deeply he loves us and loves every one of us, I just wanna spread that to kids and adults and everybody. Just everybody.

Dawn Caldwell De Wulf’s Writing Journey

Valerie - Well, Dawn, why don't you tell us a little bit about how you became a writer?

Dawn - I kind of, well, will blame it on my mother. I'll blame it on my mom. She read to me; my mom is a former teacher. She's 83 years old, and she's on the other side of the house right now because she lives in the other side of the house in her own little wing, her grandma wing. But she read to me constantly every night before bed so many times, and I had so many books that I loved on repeat that I would, if she missed a word like the or and I would be instantly like, " No, no, no, you forgot, you know. So I think she planted in me the joy of reading and started teaching me to read young so that by the time I was in school, I was reading. I would come home, and if my homework was done, I was in a book. I'm in a book, in a series, in a book. And I think that great love of reading and books and stories got to me really early, dug this out, and you're not going to be able to see the title because it is yellow, which I will, I will say, since I was younger, I think I've realized the titles need to be a different color. But this is the first book I made. My mom kept it, and it's just a little book I made when I was seven about a cat named Tippy and all the trouble he was getting into. So it's been in there for a really long time. I've just kind of always known I was a writer, not professionally, but just know, like, I'm a writer, I'm supposed to be writing. So I think that's something that was planted inside of me and that just took, you know, until I was almost 50 to get out.

Valerie - What is it? Not all seeds sprout right away, as soon as you put them in the ground, right? Yes. Yes, we do. Well, Dawn, what is your favorite book other than the Bible?

Dawn Caldwell DeWulf’s Favorite Books

Dawn - Now, of us, some of us veer in other directions a lot. You know.

Dawn - my gosh, that is so hard for me. Okay, so let me go through all my favorites that I can think of right now. I love all the Little House on the Prairie series, even as an adult. And I have almost, almost everything that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote. She wrote newspaper columns before she ever wrote any of her children's books. And so I have like a book with all of those, cause I used to write for newspapers. The woman was ahead of her time. Okay. I love Anne of Green Gables. All of them, but the original book, Anne of Green Gables, the best and Little Women. I love Little Women because I love Joe. I feel like when I started finding these strong female characters that I could relate to, even strong female girls, I was like, maybe I'm not a weirdo. And, you know, they wrote things, and they scribbled in their notebooks, and Joe put on her stocking cap and wrote up in an attic. So yeah, those are my favorites, like from when I was younger. And I also like Ernest Hemingway. I really like Ernest Hemingway. For Whom the Bell Tolls. Yes, For Whom the Bell Tolls. I like the way he writes since it's very newspaper writer-ish, very like short sentences, very impactful, like strong verbs, which I really like. So yeah, that's my other.

Valerie - Those are very interesting books. Yes, they were very interesting.

Valerie - Your other favorites are too fun. I'm sure I, yeah, I know I'm like, yes. Yes. We can keep listing things. I know it's the best worst question.

Dawn - And I could just keep going. Secret garden. could just keep going. Yeah. I know. like, well, I can. And then I'm saying, go, no, I like that one. Okay. Stop. The Bible.

Valerie - The Bible. know. I know. That's why I say other than the Bible, because everybody would put that. Okay. Well, what is your favorite children's book other than your own?

Dawn -Other than my own, darn, not my own. My gosh. What age group are you looking for here?

Valerie - Hmm, what do you enjoy reading to your grandkids? Or which book would you want to read to them?

Books, Dawn Caldwell DeWulf, are enjoying reading to the Grandkids.

Dawn - Ooh, I like reading, I like reading those funny books. I have a few books that are kind of ridiculous. Like I have one that I just got, and I'm not going to say it right because it's got, it's like Scottish lilt, and I can't do that. I can do it in my head, but it doesn't come out of my mouth. And it's like, you can't throw your granny from the bus, and it's a song. So you sing it to like, she's been coming around the mountain. So you can't throw your granny off the bus. Push, push, it's very funny. Anyways, it has flip books, so she falls off the bus. It's very funny. Things like that.

Valerie - Make the experience laughable. Is it? I've said, I think several times on this podcast that with my kids, if I can, you know, the way to their heart is through food, but the way to their soul is through laughter. And so it's like, if you can get them to laugh, then you're really connecting on a new level.

Dawn -  Yes, yes, I love laughing with them. I have six grandkids now, and they're all six and under, so they're a hoot. And all so different. I love that. I love how God makes all of them so different. It's so entertaining.

Valerie - Very neat. Well, what can we expect next from you, Dawn?

Future Project and How to Connect with Dawn DeWulf

Dawn - After these five, next, we haven't determined the timing on it yet. Next, either spring or summer will be gentle. So we'll see how you may need to be a little more gentle in the garden or around bugs, plants, and things. I am also just finishing. Completely different because I like to veer, like I said, like to veer. I have written a historical fiction novel, and I'm in the final editing of it. It's set in Scotland, not Outlander, but it feels the same, so we'll see what happens.

Valerie- How fun. It's fun to dip our toes into other genres and to stretch ourselves. Yes. Well, Dawn, where could people find out more about you and your books?

Dawn - You can go to my website, dawndewulf.com. I am also on Instagram and Facebook. Let's see, X, threads, and LinkedIn. So I'm all over the place.

Valerie - Awesome, all over the place. We'll make sure to have all those links in the show notes so people can find you easily. Thank you, Dawn, so much for being with me today.

Dawn - Thank you so much for having me.

Valerie - And thank you for joining Dawn and me on this episode of the Bookworthy Podcast. Hit follow wherever you're listening to and leave a review to help other Christian families find good books that your kids will love and you can trust. The blog version of this episode can be found at ValerieFentress.com/blog. Happy reading.