糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Employee Publishes First Children鈥檚 Book
Corrigan Revels, assistant director for student leadership and development at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 Student Experience Center, has published his first children鈥檚 book.
鈥淧apa鈥檚 Dude鈥� tells the story of Quentin, whose stay with his grandparents takes an unexpected turn when his grandfather, known as Papa Dude, encourages him to overcome his fear and share his talents with the world.
鈥淨uentin has this awesome and very uplifting day with his grandfather,鈥� Revels said. 鈥淨uentin has something else on his mind, but Papa Dude brings him out of it to enjoy the day. He also helps him overcome his insecurities when it comes to playing the saxophone.鈥�
While the plot of the book was 鈥減ure imagination,鈥� Revels said the title character of Papa Dude was inspired by his own grandfather, Robert Carter.
鈥淔or me, Papa Dude was my papaw on my mom鈥檚 side, Robert Carter, who passed away at the end of 2015,鈥� Revels said. 鈥淭hat was for the inspiration of this book. Ideally, Papa Dude could be an uncle, father, or grandfather for any child who reads the book.鈥�
Having grown up with a solid relationship with his own grandfather, Revels said that he wanted the book to shine a positive light on the impact that grandparents have within families.
鈥淚 grew up in the same household as my grandparents, and I feel that sometimes grandparents can be easily forgotten,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 wanted to tell a story where there are cool grandparents who like to have fun with their families.鈥�
Originally a film script, Revels wrote 鈥淧apa Dude鈥� in 2020 for a Disney film initiative. When it wasn鈥檛 accepted, Revels thought it would make an excellent children鈥檚 book, but he has high hopes that 鈥淧apa鈥檚 Dude鈥� will still make it as a film.
鈥淚 would love to turn this book into an animated short, which is a venture that I never thought I would be interested in,鈥� Revels said. 鈥淚 wanted to tell it as a mix between 鈥楾he Parent Trap鈥� and 鈥楽ister Act.鈥欌��
As someone who wasn鈥檛 an avid reader until adulthood, Revels hopes 鈥淧apa Dude鈥� will encourage children to find a love of reading that was missing from his own childhood.
鈥淚 really hope this book will bring families together and encourage young African American boys to learn to enjoy reading,鈥� Revels said. 鈥淢y Papaw was a big reader. He didn鈥檛 finish regular public school, but he sat at the dining table every day to read the newspapers back to back.鈥�
鈥淧apa Dude鈥� is 38 pages long and recommended for children ages 4-8. It can be found on and .
