West Kendall writer Yanatha Desouvre has a special relationship with his daughter Reanna. The two co-published a book when Reanna was just five, in 2013.
Now, six years later, Desouvre says people continue to buy the book on Amazon. It has since been published in Spanish, French and Creole.
Desouvre said his daughter has literature "in her DNA."
Desouvre was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and has published several books. His most recent, "Revelations: Roads to Redemption," was published last year. It's science fiction based on Haitian proverbs and pays homeage to Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean.
Desouvre said he saw his daughter's "love for literacy" and writing when she started reading at three and a half years old. He always hoped to write a book with her.
When her baby sister Danielle was born the moment was right.
The book, "Big Sister, Little Sister," describes Reanna and her father’s love for Danielle, who was just 18 months when the book was published. It features pictures of the sisters' adventures together, like going to the zoo and the park and having dinner together.
It was Amazon’s number 1 seller in the siblings category that year.
“When her sister was born we thought that was the perfect time for us to write the book,” Desouvre said. "We took a bunch of pictures and all the events that they had shared together."
Reanna is still an avid reader, and now at 11 she has a love for the arts, science and mathematics. She recently played the role of a jelly fish in the play The Little Mermaid at her elementary school, William Lehman.
As Father's Day approaches, Desouvre has a message for other fathers:
“I encourage fathers to capture that voice of their children no matter if it’s in sports, no matter if it’s in music, no matter if it’s in writing, but capture that unique voice,” he said.
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