School Bulletin: Teacher publishes book inspired by daughter

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A Racine literacy teacher has followed the old saying, 'Write what you know' and published a children's book inspired by her daughter. "I'm Funny" is all about a little girl doing funny things to cheer people up.

"She'd always say, 'Mom, I'm funny,'" Amber Nurmi, an educational assistant for literacy support, says. "She just wanted the, 'Yes, babe, you're funny.' So, I just wrote up a few things that she did and with the encouragement of someone else, I wrote a book."

Nurmi worked with illustrator Victor Nariño to bring the story to life, but all of their communication was over email since Nariño lives in Guatamala. Numri says she never even sent him a photo of her daughter, Delilah.

"I just gave him a vision through words," Nurmi says.

The descriptions were more than enough to make a character resembling Delilah, who is now 3-years-old. Nurmi says even though her daughter can't quite read the book, she knows it by heart and takes great pride in it.

"She absolutely loves it, and she just wants us to send the book to anybody in the world," Nurmi says. "She always says, 'Oh, we should give them our book.'"

Nurmi says she has been writing for years and keeping journals with different stories and ideas. She says it was a way to cope with issues in high school.

"It let me step into fantasy world with my own writing," Nurmi says.

Now everyone, including Nurmi's first grade students, can step into her family's world. Nurmi says she used a rhyming scheme for "I'm Funny" and even included activities at the back of the book for families to try at home. It's all about bonding and using your imagination.

"I hope parents and families sit down…and draw what animals they like to be, or say ways they like to be funny," Nurmi says. "It's something my daughter and I do daily, and we enjoy it so much.

Now that she's published one book with Amazon's help, Nurmi says she will definitely be writing more. She has one picture book and one book for teens in the works.