COURTESY DR. SAKESHA CASTON

Dr. Sakesha Caston (right), author of “Mommy Loves My Little Toes” with her son Jesiah.

Dr. Sakesha Caston never intended to become a children’s author.

The Cleveland, Ohio native, who has called Charlotte home since 2000, attended North Carolina Central University and later the Pennsylvania College of Optometry before going on to become an optometrist. Today she works in exam development and administration for the National Board of Examiners in Optometry, whose headquarters are in Charlotte.

Along the way, she wrote “Mommy Loves My Little Toes,” which was inspired by her now 14-year-old son Jesiah. She would read to Jesiah every night when he was little, and even before that while she was pregnant.

“Even before he got here, I was constantly trying to find books to read and singing to him,” Caston said. “Luckily he did not know I can’t sing, so it didn’t bother him. I can’t sing at all, so I would read books to him. After he was born, he would go and grab a particular book.”

Jesiah would often bring her the same book to read every night, “Please, Baby, Please” by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee. Caston noticed a lack of children’s books featuring faces of color.

“I am pretty sure he grabbed that book because it had faces like his,” Caston said. “At the time there just weren’t that many. That was the only one that we had.”
Caston felt called to change that.

“This started a long time ago,” she said. “I actually wrote the book years ago, but with just being a mom and being an optometrist and trying to get the two together and find the time to get the two together and do everything else in between, it was hard for me to get finished.”

The book is designed for newborns to 5-year-olds.

The title “Mommy Loves My Little Toes” pays homage to Caston’s mother, who stayed with her during her pregnancy and while Jesiah was a newborn. Her mother would constantly remind her to wash between the baby’s toes, which were so small Caston questioned how anything could possibly get between them.

“I was giving Jesiah a bath one night, and she said, ‘don’t forget to wash in between his toes,’” Caston said. “I said, ‘are you kidding? There is no way you could wash in between those little, tiny toes. They are so little.’ I think that is where the idea for everything started.”

Caston constantly questioned her ability to pursue something she did not feel qualified to do. A classmate from her days at NCCU helped her see she was more than capable of publishing.

Caston’s previous writing experience was entirely medical. She never considered herself an author, but the way her son’s face would light up when she read “Please, Baby, Please” pushed her to pursue publishing “Mommy Loves My Little Toes.”

“I wanted other little children to light up like that so they can see themselves and identify with the person in the books,” she said.

The book was illustrated by tattoo artist Hayley Moran, who does Caston’s henna work. Moran modeled the illustrations after Jesiah.

Comments