Like so many others, Kim Morris had considered writing a book for some time but had never taken the time to do so.

Then, in October, she finally sat down and began piecing together some ideas for a children’s book. By March, she and Illustrator Wendy Byrd submitted their first pieces of work to a publisher. On July 1, Morris found out the book was ready for distribution. Nine months after she began working on the project, the time had finally come.

“It was well worth it even thought it’s just something small and simple. I would do it again,” she said.

Many publishers say that an author’s first book is always personal, dealing with something they have experienced in their lives. Morris did not vary from this trend.

“Through the Eyes of Love” uses pictures and rhyming lines to speak to children about how people see things differently, whether they have to wear glasses, have 20/20 vision, or, like Morris, suffer from an eye disease.

When she was in her 20s, Morris was diagnosed with ocular histoplasmosis, an eye disease that causes vision loss due to the spread of spores from the lungs to the eyes.

“The disease wasn’t aggressive until several years ago when it greatly reduced my visual acuity,” she said.

It is because of this disease that Morris was inspired to write a book about eyesight for children. As a mother of two, she faced questions from her children about her eye condition because she uses a magnifying glass to read small print.

“There’s not a lot of things out there on their level. I was thinking about my own children,” she said. “It’s getting on their level, helping them to relate to what we’re talking about.”

She hopes that the book will help children to understand more about eyesight and for those who have to wear glasses, make it OK. She believes that even though she has an eye disease that has decreased her vision, she should use it to her advantage because she is not blind.

“I truly believe all things happen for a reason,” she said. “A person once told me that God had a plan for me and because of that I should know that the eye disease, which had taken so much from me, could one day allow me to give so much back to others. I like to call it ‘transforming a challenge into a reward.’ My book, to me, is that reward.”

After spending much of her adult life working with children at Westfield Elementary, most recently with first graders in the First Steps/Early Steps reading program, she found a natural audience with young children.

“There’s nothing more rewarding. They love the one-on-one,” she said of First Steps. “If they don’t get that love of reading early, you’re in trouble. I tell them the more you read the bigger your brain gets.”

When Morris decided to write the book with a focus on children, she approached Wendy Byrd about being the illustrator. Byrd also works at Westfield Elementary and has painted some of the artwork on the walls of the school.

“I had Wendy in the back of my mind. It was a first for both of us,” said Morris. “I told her I wanted there to be something different, to stand out, and we just went from there.”

Morris wrote out notes about her ideas for the illustrations on each page and Byrd added some more ideas of her own to help the book come together as an illustrated guide to all different types of people will different degrees of sight.

“It’s all about the children and what they relate to,” said Morris of the decision to use colored pencils as the medium rather than paint as well as the subjects of the drawings. “Her drawings are exactly what I had pictured.”

Byrd even added her own trademark to many of the pages, often adding mice in various positions, some of which even wear glasses.

Through this process, Morris has developed an even deeper appreciation for books, particularly the more delicate paperback variety. She has learned of all the work and money that goes into the production of one book which children often turn around and tear pages from or draw on.

Throughout the process, Morris has relied on the support of family members, particularly that of her husband.

“My husband told me to go for it. He said whatever it takes we’ll make it happen,” she said. “When it was finished I said it wasn’t a novel. My husband said ‘it’s 100 percent from your heart.’ It’s from within.”

Morris hopes that when school resumes, she can hold a book signing at Westfield Elementary. She also hopes to get some literature about vision to pass out with the books.

“We all can identify that sight is a precious gift that we should never take for granted,” she said. “You can turn a negative into a positive. It can always work out.”

She concludes the book with a well-known quote from Helen Keller: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”

Morris hopes that her work will help those children with vision problems to accept them and those who do not have vision problems to be more accepting of those who do.

“In my experience, there are few books that actually discuss eyes and sight differences in terms to which a child can relate and understand,” she said.

“Through the Eyes of Love” is available for purchase at Morris’ web site, www.kimelymorris.com, at Pages Bookstore, on Amazon.com or on the Barnes and Noble web site. Morris will also have a signing at Pages during the Autumn Leaves Festival.

Contact Morgan Wall at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.