Meet Kyle & Karter Thomas | Authors, The Magical You: How Do You Imagine the Whole Wild World

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kyle & Karter Thomas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kyle & Karter, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
We started this book because we love using our imaginations. Our mom and dad push us to be our best and encourage us to think creatively, ask questions, do our research, and share our ideas. So in addition to school and lots of sports, we play with action figures, play video games, play piano, read together, and tell lots of stories when it’s finally time for bed. Bedtime stories are a big deal in our house, and we have a lot of fun making up our own. It’s kind of funny that one of those bedtime stories turned into this book.

We wanted to create something magical that helps kids use their imagination. Our book shows how powerful imagination is and reminds kids that everyone has their own magical way of seeing the world.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What sets us apart is that we’re two brothers who are now authors and entrepreneurs. We wrote this book when we were 7 and 9 years old, starting with a bedtime story, and we are most proud that we did this together.

This happened because our parents believed in us and helped us learn along the way, and we believed in ourselves! We worked with our amazing illustrator, Syama Lee, who sketched every one of our ideas and then had painted each photo. We also got picked up by an independent publisher, Ripples, who helped turn our story into a real book. We are one of the inaugural books on their new children’s imprint, Little Ripples.

It was not always easy. We had to be patient, listen, and sometimes change things, but we learned that creativity takes teamwork and effort. What we want the world to know how powerful imagination is, how important it is to think differently, and kids can create something meaningful when they are encouraged to dream big.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are so many places in Atlanta that inspired our imaginations when we were 7 and 9, and a lot of them show up in the book. Many of the characters and ideas came from real places we visited with our family and friends.

If a friend came to visit when we were 7 and 9, we would take them to Georgia Aquarium and Zoo Atlanta, because seeing the animals and learning about them sparked a lot of our ideas and even inspired ideas for our next book. We would run around Centennial Olympic Park and visit Children’s Museum of Atlanta, where we played, learned, and imagined all kinds of things.

Now, we would also take them to Martin Luther King Jr. Birth Home, because not everyone knows he was born here. We would hang out at parks around the city or eat at Ponce City Market or other restaurants our mom and dad take us to, including some we really like that our mom says have very important stars. All of these places helped inspire the world we imagined in our book.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We want to shout out our mom and dad. Even with their busy work schedules, they always find a way to be at every practice, game, and recital. They make time to listen to our ideas, read with us, play with us, teach us, and let us use our imaginations (even when our stories and playtime gets really wild). They make learning fun, support us in everything we do, and believe we can turn our ideas into something real. This book started at bedtime, and it only happened because our parents and family support us, help us to dream big, and have fun along the way.

Website: https://themagicalyoubooks.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themagicalyoubooks

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherethabell

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@themagicalyoubooks

Image Credits
This Moment Studios
Sheretha Bell
Aubree Dumas