How One Creative Finished His Late Mother’s Children’s Book

From navigating dyslexia to embracing collaboration, Brett Williams completed what was left behind

Before passing away in Aug. 2016, Cindy L. Williams had already made a lasting mark on children across Ohio and Wisconsin.

As a special education aide and mother of two, she was a tireless advocate for students with learning differences. Both Cindy and her youngest son, Brett, had dyslexia—a neurological condition that affects how the brain processes language. “I’ve always known her to be taking care of people and going above and beyond for her students,” Brett shared with Muse. Cindy turned daily routines into games—like creating visual schedule boards. She continually went out of her way to support her kids, including writing a children’s book about a young boy named Tommy T. Willy.

Although Cindy died of lung cancer before seeing the project published, the book remained top of mind for her family—especially Brett, who grew up to become a WebXR developer. Cindy’s story sat preserved in the family archives until Brett and his wife, Alexandra, decided to bring her legacy to life.

Collaborating with illustrator Alissa Creno—a former coworker from their days at American Girl—they published Tommy T. Willy Goes to the Zoo. The book tells the sweet story of a young boy’s imagination running free, using playful rhymes and simple activities to engage readers while supporting phonemic awareness. To make reading more accessible, the take is set in a dyslexia-friendly font. And Creno’s colorful, hand-drawn illustrations were inspired by family photographs and Cindy’s original sketches.

Muse sat down with Brett to discuss the power of creativity in education, the process of publishing a book for the first time, and his advice for creatives looking to get their own passion projects off the ground.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

How did this project come together? Were you aware that the book was in progress when your mom was writing it?

My mom was doing a bunch of stuff when she started writing a kids’ book. She never really revealed it because it was not done. I know that she was looking to get illustrators and was having trouble with that. Unfortunately, she got diagnosed with cancer and then eventually passed. 

One of the wishes my dad had was, “I would really love to get this book made.” As a creative, you think, “I want to do the illustrations.” [But] we were being too precious with it. Because of that, we couldn’t move forward with the project.

So along comes my wife Alex and she says, “Hey, we’re just going to get an illustrator. You don’t have to do it all.” [From our time] working at American Girl, we knew Alyssa, who is an amazing illustrator and overall a great person to work with. 

Things rolled from there. I’m not 100 percent sure this is what my mom intended, but the family in there, Tommy, T. Willy, and his brother, resembled my brother and me when we were little kids growing up on a farm. 

It’s very heartwarming to see it come together, to see my mom’s words on a page, and to watch Alex do readings at GiGi’s Playhouse, which is a center for kids with Down syndrome and special needs families. 

The finish line was getting it published and made. The gravy or extra bonus is now seeing people have my mom’s book, read it, share in it, post about it, and say how much fun it was. Just yesterday, Alex and I did our first night market where we set up a tent [to promote the book]. It was really fun—my dad, friends, and family came to see us—and it felt like she’s bringing everyone together again.

Were you surprised how the illustrations brought the story to life?

It was cool, because working with Alyssa, she gave us different versions to choose from. They were all good, but one stuck out. It was like Christmas every time we saw the illustrations and almost the creative simplicity where we could recognize elements. For example, when I was a kid, we lived on a farm and I always wore cowboy boots. So, the little brother [in the book] has cowboy boots on.

Did you provide any mood boards or a specific style you wanted as well?

Not necessarily. My dad was a photographer, so we had plenty of really good, fun photos. We made a gallery, and my mom had piece-mealed a bunch of illustration sketches showing where her head was. We gave those to Alyssa and let her run with it.  I also understood Alyssa’s style, so I trusted her and the process. 

How did this project differ from what you usually work on, and what were some surprise learnings?

I started in graphic design. After that, I went to school for interactive multimedia. To date myself, back then it was using projectors and syncing them up to do multimedia stuff. I eventually went into web development. 

When doing graphic design, I wanted to do more interactive things. I got hired at American Girl and worked there for about 15-plus years with the magazine and web departments. I made small interactive Flash games to coincide with articles. I’ve been doing techy stuff, interactive web, 3D websites, AR, and VR. 

[Creating the book] was fun because at American Girl, I handled everything soup to nuts by myself or led teams where the ideation, execution, design, and production fell on my shoulders. Working with Alex was great because she gets so much done quickly. It was really fun to work as a team, have that communication, and be in awe of other people’s talents through this book.

It was awe-inspiring to see these new illustrations come to life. It was a revival of memories; remembering how pristine [my mom’s] handwriting was when going through her old notes. It was very heartwarming.

Beyond this being a great story, it’s also an opportunity for dyslexic children to see themselves represented. Why do you think the world needs this kind of creativity right now?

Creativity and art are uplifting, powerful and magical. With the weight of the world right now, it’s like a rose rising through the cracks. We definitely need creativity as a light at the end of the tunnel.

When it comes to dyslexia, both my mom and I have it. In my experience, it was never formally diagnosed—it was more of a “toughen up and plow through it” mindset rather than learning coping mechanisms. That’s where my mom was incredible—understanding that dyslexia isn’t necessarily a learning disability, but rather thinking and processing information differently.

In my Visual Communications 101 class in college, the professor said, “There’s a good chance 75 percent of you are dyslexic.” It was the first time I realized I wasn’t in the minority, but the majority in that room. 

My mom knew repetitive reading was frustrating the children and it was blocking their learning. Using visual communications, rhyming and visual association was her language. That’s why creativity and the arts are so important—for many people, that is how they learn.

Has this experience whet your appetite to do more projects outside your comfort zone?

One of my favorite phrases is “make better mistakes next time.” We’re already thinking about the next book, now that we’ve gotten past the initial learning curve. 

The difference is, my mom had written most of the first book. Now that we understand the publishing process, our next adventure is learning how to craft a good story together.

For the creatives who have a pet project sitting on the shelf, what’s your advice to finally get it off the ground?

If you’re too precious with a project, you’ll never move forward. 

There’s a Pixar quote: “Our movies are never finished, they’re just released.” You want it to be perfect. When my dad asked my brother and me to do this, we hesitated because it felt heavy and we wanted it to be perfect. You can get analysis paralysis. So my advice is don’t be precious with it—or be precious with the next one. 

Another tip for creatives is learning to accept help. This would never have happened without Alex and Alyssa. You have to be vulnerable enough to admit you can’t do it all, and that someone else might do parts better and faster. Be humble and use it as a learning experience working with others so you can do better next time.