9-year-old girl publishes book to bring awareness to children in foster care

LEXINGTON, S.C. (WIS) - A 9-year-old Midlands girl published a book with a vision to bring awareness to children in foster care.

‘The Krystal Kingdom’ is a fictional, biblical based story, that holds a special place in the Butler family’s heart.

Since Audreuna Butler was a little girl, her parents have opened their homes as foster parents; which makes her a foster sister.

That experience inspired her to write ‘The Krystal Kingdom,’ with hopes it’ll influence people to open their homes and hearts to fostering.

She started writing the book when she was 5-years-old. Four years later, with the help of her father, it is now a published book. The book was published on May 18, 2019.

“I’m a foster sister and I just wanted to let my foster sisters know that I love them and they are still in my heart,” Audreuna said. “I hope that more parents could become foster parents and I think that we can make a difference in the world if we have more people taking care of these kids cause not all kids have a home.”

The book honors three foster sisters that stayed with her family the longest.

Crystal Butler, Audreuna’s mom said, “They’re coming in with a lot of issues and they’re coming in with trust issues most of all because they have been taken away from their parents.”

The book highlights an issue common for children during their time in foster care.

“One of the characters that is in the book is the dragon. His name is Willow, and it kind of symbolizes the issues that drives these children out of their homes.” Andrew Butler, Audreuna’s dad said, “There is three different characters but usually the same problem, same type of spirit that drives these babies out of their homes. So for us when she [Audreuna] brought this to us, and the thought process of using this one character or this one darkness behind this whole issue kind of sold everything together for this.”

Andrew Butler says more than 100 copies of the book have been sold.

You can buy a copy of the book at 3C’s Christian Bookstore at 736 West Main Street Lexington, SC 29072.

A portion of the proceeds made from the book will be donated to The Bair Foundation, which is a Christian based foster organization.

The family will present the organization with a check on Monday, July 29th at 11:30 a.m at the Bair Foundation 240 Stonebridge Dr., Ste 200, Columbia, 29210.

It is open to the public to attend.

To learn more about how to start the process of fostering a child, click here.