Joanne Williams
Editor
(Joanne Williams/TCJ: Madeline (Maddie) Snyder, now children’s book author, shares her love of reading with daughter Kennedy, 4.)
Once upon a time, parents read to their children.
“Reading aloud is a shared experience that builds human connections and provides children with a model of what good reading sounds like, especially if the reader uses expression and dramatizes the story even a little bit,” said Sue Corbin, a literacy specialist and board member of the International Literacy Association in a June 2025 article in Education Week.
Madeline Snyder said it was her favorite time, reading with her mom. Her favorite book? “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” Now, it is a favorite book of Kennedy, her 4-year-old daughter.
“We’ve got quite the library,” said Snyder, and Kennedy likes to bring a stack of those books to her parents’ bedroom for reading time.
It was her pregnancy, family memories, love of reading, and a wish to memorialize a loved one that prepared Snyder, of Olivet, to become a children’s author. Her first book, “The Swans That Came Before Her,” is available now.
There is no doubt that this book chronicles Kennedy’s birth. There is also special acknowledgement in the book for her grandmother, Joan Nolff, who painted a classic swan depiction, which now hangs in Kennedy’s room.
In the story, Swans herald a birth and thoughts of a first-time mother. The work is succinct and poetic and bathed in golden settings. Snyder wrote, illustrated, and published the book.
The illustrations speak to a new age of artistic talent and expression – AI generated scenes.
“I could not have done this without ChatGPT,” Snyder said of the design. As with most large language models, she loaded her ideas and color schemes into the online platform and revised and produced the look she wanted. When she was first learning, it was a bit challenging. “I’m faster at it now,” she said.
It is the fluid mood of the book that showcases Snyder’s graceful words. Here is one passage: “Swans may be birds, but they’re something more. They come when the world opens a door.”
The door was Kennedy’s entrance into the world, announced by two, then more and more swans on a neighboring lake.
It really happened, Snyder said. For her, it was Pine Lake, where swan sightings are not everyday occurrences.
In fact, Snyder talked with a neighbor on the lake who had lived there 30 years and had never seen anything like it.
Snyder was born and raised in the county. She and her husband, Grant, a marketing professional, have an Airbnb in Olivet and share their home with 13-year old daughter Ellie, Kennedy, and their cat and dogs.
This book is a result of Snyder’s dream of becoming a children’s author, and inspiration from a book she discovered while on vacation in Traverse City, “Dreams for our Daughters.” Of course, there was Kennedy, too.
The book was published just before last Christmas through Amazon, where it is available, as well as The Cozy Corner Bookstore in downtown Charlotte, 144 Cochran.
