‘I call you noodle’

Along with the birth of her second child, Lincoln, this summer, Rachel Wallace, a Greenfield native, has produced another project: the publishing of her first children’s book.

“I Call You Noodle” celebrates the pet names parents call their children but maintains, in the end that their real name is the best.

Wallace said the names in the book are the ones she calls her nearly three-year-old daughter when Reese is “silly, mad or sad.”

The back cover of Wallace’s book says silly nicknames are a way for parents to show their love to their children while getting their attention.

The idea for the book came to Wallace when Reese was 1 1/2, but the general idea of writing a children’s book had been on her mind for longer.

When she was in college and her nieces were little, Wallace wanted to write a book for them. Then when she had a child of her own, the idea resurfaced.

Wallace had hoped to have the book finished by Reese’s second birthday, but “Life happens,” she said.

She did get it finished in time for Reese’s third birthday in November. According to Wallace, Reese loves the animals in the book.

“Reese wouldn’t put it down or even let me read it to her,” Wallace said.

After finishing the lines for the book, Wallace said she held on to it for about six months before she approached a coworker at Lessing-Flynn, where she is a content marketing specialist — a “fancy name for a writer,” she said.

Kara Hoegh, a graphic designer at Lessing-Flynn, agreed to do the illustrations although she had not attempted a similar project before.

“She did such a good job with the illustrations,” Wallace said.

Wallace gave Hoegh the lines from the book along with an idea for each page. The pages all have animal pairs — a mommy or daddy animal plus a baby — that go along with the nickname being used.

Hidden in the book are “Easter eggs” — or hidden symbols — that point to important parts of Wallace’s life. She made sure the cat page has calico cats because her grandmother had calicoes. On another page, a “Welcome to Greenfield” sign sits along side the road.

Wallace grew up in Greenfield, moving there in second grade and graduating from Nodaway Valley High School in 2009, although she and husband Dusty now live in Cumming.

The book is self-published through Amazon. She would have liked it to be a board book,
Wallace said, but she could not find a self-publishing outlet that makes those.

Wallace said she won’t be doing any major marketing — relying instead on its presence on Amazon, spreading the news of the book on social media and by word of mouth. The book will also be available at Java J’s/Creston True Value as well as Colors Floral in Greenfield starting Sept. 14.

She doesn’t expect to make a lot of money on the book, Wallace said. It was more about the pride of it and being able to share it with friends.

“I just hope people get it and read it to their little noodles,” she said.