Driven by her passion in STEM, Kayley Reith, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, self-published two children’s books titled “Girls in Computer Science” and “Girls Can Be Anything” on March 27.

“I really wanted to share a message to young girls that they really can be anything that they want to be and really allow them to use their imagination to pursue any of their dreams, to show that their potential really is unlimited,” Reith said.

Reith said she’s been working on these books for a while and was inspired to create them due to her passion for storytelling, writing and reading.

The first book, “Girls Can Be Anything,”  is a rhyming book with the target audience between 2-10 years old. The second book, “Girls in Computer Science,” is focused on inspiring girls in the field of computer science and technology. Both books range from 38-42 pages, both around $1o each.

The back of the books feature phrases that say,  “girls can code” and “being a girl is our superpower”.

Reith said “Girls Can Be Anything” goes through different career options for girls and what each one entails, such as a baseball player, a chef, an astronaut or an engineer. Reith said just showing what each career entails shows girls that they can achieve these goals and have these careers.

Through the combination of her data science knowledge and technology interest, Reith used generative AI for  all of the illustrations. The books feature illustrations of seven girls in different careers with bright purple backgrounds. Reith said it started with a draft in a Google document, which led to editing and eventually self-publishing through Amazon.

“In terms of storytelling, I wanted to create a diverse representation of young girls, so making sure that the generative images actually aligned with different ethnicities and races,” Reith said. “I thought that was super important so that young girls could feel represented in these stories, especially because what I’m writing about is a lot of male-dominated fields.”

Since Reith plans on sharing her stories with as many people as possible, she said she will read these stories to a Girl Scout Troop at her hometown elementary school in Northlake, Illinois and possibly other Milwaukee elementary schools.

Maddie Kopman, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said having these books as a kid would have been encouraging and motivating to chase after anything she wanted. Kopman knows Reith through their Marquette sorority, Kappa Delta.

“These topics Kayley discussed are extremely important, especially for younger generations because these kids are our future. Kayley will be encouraging them all to go after hard things as she has done for everyone who has the privilege of knowing her,” Kopman said.

Kopman said these books are inspiring to the newest generation of young women and will teach them that there are no limits regardless of gender, which is something she said her generation didn’t have growing up. 

In terms of her inspiration, Reith credited her younger sisters for inspiring her to be a role model that they can look up to.

“I never really saw myself writing a children’s book, so I definitely surprised myself with that. I think it was more of a passion project, just wanting to spread that kindness, knowledge and hopefulness for younger girls out there, what I wish I had when I was younger,” Reith said.

This story was written by Trinity Zapotocky. She can be reached at [email protected]