Sherri Eri is my pen name. Using a pen name frees me to put myself in my picture book characters’ shoes.

But I’m not very adventurous. So my pen name isn’t wildly different from the shortened version of my real name … Sherri Jalil. 🙃

Since I’m visually-impaired, I write not just with sighted children in mind. I also think of VI kids.

So, even though mine are picture books, much of what is told through illustrations is also told via words.

This way, I hope even VI children can picture the book while someone is reading it to them.

“A picture paints a thousand words for young readers who can see. But for visually-impaired young readers, a few more words can paint a thousand pictures.”