Maryland Contractor Debuts Children’s Book to Promote Careers in the Skilled Trades

Chris Eccleston, founder and CEO of Delmarva Veteran Builders, and Jenny Kerr Schroen, the firm’s creative developer and graphic designer, are inspiring younger generations to consider careers in the skilled trades with their children’s adventure book, Grit Leads to Greatness. The book aims to get kids from second through fifth grade excited about various jobs in the construction trades by telling them the story of two siblings who live in a city that has forgotten how to build.

Eccleston's book, which is available for preorder now and will officially go on sale in June, has been read in front of about 2,000 elementary school kids and has received positive feedback from parents and teachers, Construction Dive reports.

“We decided we need to do something about this to engage people, get them interested in the construction trades where we are,” he told Construction Dive.

Geared toward kids aged 6 to 12 years old, “Grit Leads to Greatness” tells the story of Trig and Teigan, siblings who live in a decaying city that has forgotten how to build, as its citizens are hypnotized by glowing stones they carry. 

Over the course of about 40 pages, the siblings go on an adventure, encountering an ogre mason, a snow gnome (or snome) carpenter, an amphibious plumber and “the electrician magician.” 

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