The Coloring Book Has Passports Now.

A book made for toddlers who are learning America is now available in America and in Denmark. I did not see Denmark coming. Nobody did.

I have an update and it is a good one. My First American Coloring Book is now available in two places that are not Amazon, which already feels like a plot twist worth announcing.

A book about American toddler life, made by a Brazilian author, illustrated by a Brazilian illustrator, is now on sale in the United States and in Denmark. I keep saying this out loud to see if it sounds less surreal. It does not.

🇺🇸 UNITED STATES

Barnes & Noble

One of the largest and most iconic book retailers in America. If you know, you know. If you don't, it's basically a bookshop the size of a small country.

🇩🇰 DENMARK

Saxo

Denmark's first and largest online bookstore, founded in 1961. Millions of titles. The Danish equivalent of the big one.

🤔 A REASONABLE QUESTION YOU MIGHT BE ASKING

Why is a book called My First American Coloring Book available in Denmark? That is a fair question and I appreciate you asking it. The honest answer is: because books go where books go, and apparently Danish readers are also curious about pies, Halloween, and what a school bus looks like. Or perhaps it is for the many families in Denmark who are raising children between cultures and languages. Which, as it turns out, is what all of my books are about. So. That tracks.

A coloring book for two-year-olds is now available in two countries on two continents. The two-year-olds are unbothered by this news. I am not.

Barnes & Noble is one of the most established book retailers in the United States — the kind of name that, when you see your title listed there, you have to do a small private celebration and then act normal for the rest of the day. I did the celebration. The acting normal is still pending.

Saxo is Denmark's largest online bookstore, founded in 1961, with millions of titles across every format. It is, by any measure, the place Danes go to find books. And now one of those books is mine. Written in English. About America. Available in Copenhagen. I love this so much.

THE PART THAT IS GENUINELY FUNNY

A Brazilian author writes a book about American culture for toddlers. Denmark buys it.

If this is not the most immigrant-author thing that has ever happened, I do not know what is. The book crossed more borders than the toddlers it was made for. They are still working on walking in a straight line. The book is doing international distribution. We are all growing at our own pace.

My First American Coloring Book is available now on Barnes & Noble in the US, on Saxo in Denmark, and on Amazon. Wherever you are, wherever your toddler is, there is probably a way to get this into their hands.

More countries to follow, hopefully. The book seems to have places to be. I am going to let it go.

Delighted, grateful, and mildly baffled by Denmark,

Jessica Gabrielzyk

✦ MY FIRST AMERICAN COLORING BOOK · BARNES & NOBLE · SAXO · AVAILABLE NOW ✦

Jessica Gabrielzyk

Jessica Gabrielzyk is a Brazilian writer living in Switzerland. She writes about identity, migration, and the person you become when the life you built no longer fits the person you are. She is the author of Maternity Abroad, Parenting Unpacked, and My First American Coloring Book. A novel is in progress. If you are new here, Start Here is the best place to begin.

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Even Gemini Is Talking About My Book (And I'm Only Slightly Smug About It)