Smile Books Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing smiles to children suffering from life-threatening medical conditions. We create personalized books, coloring books, posters and more to make each child the main character of their own heroic story.
Smile Books Experience
Every child who qualifies to receive a Smile Book will receive a poster, copies of their very own book, and a few other surprises including stickers of their character to share with friends
Our Story
Author Sarah Curry Rathel and Illustrator/Author Robert Kelly began working together in 2013. From her background working in nonprofit with critically ill children and their families, Sarah approached Bob with an idea. She suggested continuing their partnership to work with individual children battling life-threatening illnesses to tell their unique stories and turn them into the main character. Sarah and Bob met with children at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Cincinnati in 2015 during a summer camp activity and gathered story ideas for each child in attendance. While working to write these stories, Bob approached Blue River Printing about partnering with us to print coloring books and cover posters for each child. Eagerly agreeing, the Smile Books Project was born.
Our Mission
To work closely with critically ill children to turn each patient into the main character of their own story and help bring a smile to their face.
Our Vision
To tell personalized stories about each patient by creating personalized books, coloring books, comic books, posters and more that center around their unique story ideas. Our goal is to engage the community in this project and gain support to make these stories come to life in print format. During this difficult time, we would like to provide smiles and happiness to these children to keep their spirits up while fighting for their lives.