Atlanta United Academy Director Tony Annan is many things: husband, father, soccer coach, talent evaluator and manager, to name a few.
He also is the author of a children’s book that he hopes to turn into a series if he can connect with a literary agent.
Annan’s book is “The Bear with the Crazy Hair.” It’s one of four Annan has written, each with a positive message based upon simple rhymes and eye-catching illustrations.
It turns out that writing a children’s book has parallels with coaching youth soccer.
“To be a good coach and developer of kids you have to be creative, find ways to connect, make things easy to understand,” he said. “It’s all about getting the message across in an easy, fun way.”
Why a bear?
His soon-to-be 4-year-old son, Jax, loves bears.
Why a big blond afro similar to Phil Spector’s for music lovers or Carlos Valderrama for soccer lovers?
It completed the rhyme.
Annan, who joked that he barely passed English as a student, hadn’t planned to write a book. COVID-19 changed that.
During last year’s pandemic-related shutdown, Annan had a lot of free time and discovered that he needed a creative outlet. Before the shutdown, he read to his two kids twice a week. During the lockdown, he began reading to them six nights a week.
He tried reading to his kids one of his favorite books when he was a child about a dog that ate too many pies.
It didn’t take.
After a while, the books that were in the rotation became a bit tedious.
Lying in bed one night, Annan told his wife that he was going to write a children’s book. She gave him a humored, “Yes, dear.”
The next day, Annan poured a cup of coffee and knocked out the text of the 20-page book in about 40 minutes.
Credit: Tony Annan
Credit: Tony Annan
His wife read the book and loved it.
Annan read it to his kids once. They loved it so much they wanted to hear it again. And again. And again. Six more times total. Seven readings. And that was without the final illustrations.
Annan cobbled some sketches together with the words on his computer to produce a paper book. He sent that to a friend who is an illustrator who produced the visual of the “Bear with the Crazy Hair” and his friend the mouse.
The two are the constants in each of the four books, with the mouse either teaching the bear lessons or the two learning something together. The message in the first book is about being brave. The second is about being kind. The third is about equality. The fourth, after the two meet some animals in the woods during the holidays, is about sharing.
The first book was sent to a friend of Annan’s who can publish books in small batches. Through Instagram, Annan sold 350 books in three days for $12 each.
Atlanta United goalkeeper Brad Guzan is one of those who reads the book to his three children.
“The messages that he is trying to portray to kids and the lessons as a parent of three young kids ... you are consistently having those teaching moments with your kids,” Guzan said. “When you are able to pick up books similar to what he’s produced it makes it easier.”
Annan has 50 books left, and with the shutdown over, he no longer has time to run to the post office every day to complete sales. He hopes to get the remaining three books published by a company large enough to take production and distribution off his hands. He said his kids, his daughter is Ella, have enjoyed the other three as much as the first. Ella, who will turn 6 years old this year, most enjoyed the one about equality. Jax likes the one about being kind.
Annan has more ideas for the series that he wants to write. He also wants to pursue a book about soccer from an experience and management standpoint rather than a how-to-play standpoint.
“Couldn’t make that rhyme so I’d be struggling,” he said.
Credit: Tony Annan
Credit: Tony Annan
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