Lisette Martinez
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
HOLYOKE — By publishing her children’s book, “The Extraordinary Adventures of Emma and the Dragon,” Lisette Martinez has officially achieved a dream she’s had since her formative years.
Martinez said books have always been a major part of her life thanks to her parents and other family members, many of whom are educators. Even though she didn’t start writing seriously until high school, she said she always envisioned her name on a book.
What started as a hobby has now turned into something tangible. “The Extraordinary Adventures of Emma and the Dragon” marks Martinez’s second book and first children’s book.
“I dreamt about writing books, especially kids’ books, because people don’t give credit to how sophisticated they really are. They are these wonderful tools that continue to teach about math and science, but not just that. They can teach really hard lessons or create safe spaces to talk about difficult moments in our life and the things we’ll face, and it makes a safe environment for kids to share their feelings, talk about fears or what’s going on and understand the world a little better,” Martinex explained. “Even through a fantasy, it helps them just kind of understand people, and I love the idea of using literature to explore our own emotions, our own family, to see where it goes.”
“The Extraordinary Adventures of Emma and the Dragon” is about a young girl going on an adventure to solve a kingdom’s problem with a dragon. All she wants to do is help people, but many people she encounters along the way tell her she is too small to do anything.
Martinez expressed that she enjoys writing books to help people learn something about life, their feelings or a bigger message.
“It’s her confidence that pushes her forward,” Martinez said. “She has her own little mantra where she says she’s smart, she’s brave, and she can do anything she works hard for. That’s the kind of message I’m trying to send.”
Her first novel, “Born of Fire: The Phoenix Knight,” was more of an adult novel about a post-apocalyptic fantasy. It follows a young man named Roux who suffered through a hard time. There’s a government taking over the world, and he is tasked to be the sole person who can save it.
“It’s kind of like fighting against the chosen path and what you really want for yourself while dealing with your own past and feeling of being unworthy,” Martinez stated.
Martinez has worked in Holyoke Public Schools for over 20 years as a reading interventionist at E.N White School.
“I work with kids who are struggling to break the code, struggling with that first step to really open reading and get engaged in stories,” she said.
Martinez’s book is currently available for purchase on Amazon and the Barnes & Noble website. It is also available at Flora in Holyoke and A New Chapter in West Springfield.
She said she will host a signing at A New Chapter on Saturday, Aug 15, at 2 p.m. and will have a read-aloud this Friday for the Children’s Museum’s book fair.
“I just really hope for kids to be able to engage in this and really have some fun with their imagination because that’s also a big part of this book is using that imagination to explore in ways that we don’t get to,” Martinez said. “The kind of joy of childhood where playing pretend was the biggest adventure we could have.”
