about JD MANDERS
A children’s author. Mr. Manders has published four children’s books: The Fairy Child, the Mermaid’s Quest, the Unicorn Eternal, and the Christmas Letters. He has written numerous other children’s stories and poems. He wrote three of his books while deployed as a U.S. service member.
A motivational speaker and writer. Mr. Manders is a frequent public speaker on military service, family readiness, and writing. He has spoken at Veteran, Memorial, and Yellow Ribbon events; Family Readiness Groups (FRG); schools; and writing conferences and seminars. He writes a weekly blog, Faith, Family, and Faithful Service, that touches on military service, family readiness, resiliency, and literary themes.
A historian and scholar. Mr. Manders is a working historian, having written widely about the history of engineering and technology. Under the name Damon Manders, he has written six books and numerous articles published by the U.S. government or other scholarly organizations. As a student of literature and theology, he also writes about and discusses leading authors and spiritual themes.
Available. Mr. Manders is happy to support your event with his story of hope, faith, and service. It his hope to help families face service member deployments and separation in a positive and uplifting way using imaginative literature to build resiliency.
J.D. Manders is a children’s author, motivational speaker, and historian. He has deployed three times with the U.S. Army National Guard, including to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait. He is happily married with two wonderful daughters.
While deployed to Iraq in 2004, Mr. Manders wrote the fictional story, The Fairy Child, for his children to help them cope with separation anxiety. As with many military families, they were struggling with his absence. He wrote the story and sent it home a chapter at a time. The story is about his children having an adventure in a magical fairy land in which they must take a stand and help people. After the encouragement of his family and their friends and teachers, who passed the story around, Mr. Manders finally sought publication of what was a very personal story. Originally published in 2013 and republished in 2020, the Fairy Child remains highly popular with military family members dealing with separation issues.
Mr. Manders wrote a second story, The Mermaid’s Quest, for his children while deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, which he published in 2015. Similar to his first story, it sets the children on a magical underwater adventure, in which they must decide to help others. It is his hope that other families might use his stories to teach their children to be courageous in the face of military deployments or other hardships.
In 2016, Mr. Manders also published a series of letters about the meaning of Christmas, The Christmas Letters. During his first deployment, one of his daughter’s teachers told her there was no such thing as Santa Claus. On a call, she asked if this were true. He immediately began to write a series of letters about the meaning of Christmas, which he finally shared to help others struggling with this most beautiful of holidays.
Mr. Manders wrote a second story, The Mermaid’s Quest, for his children while deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, which he published in 2015. Similar to his first story, it sets the children on a magical underwater adventure, in which they must decide to help others. It is his hope that other families might use his stories to teach their children to be courageous in the face of military deployments or other hardships.
In 2016, Mr. Manders also published a series of letters about the meaning of Christmas, The Christmas Letters. During his first deployment, one of his daughter’s teachers told her there was no such thing as Santa Claus. On a call, she asked if this were true. He immediately began to write a series of letters about the meaning of Christmas, which he finally shared to help others struggling with this most beautiful of holidays.
In 2017, Mr. Manders published the first fictional book he ever wrote in 1993. The Unicorn Eternal tells a familiar tale of faith and love set in the Middle Ages. While most are familiar with the legend of the unicorn, few understand the symbolism in this wonderful allegory. The story teaches us about a hope that never dies and will lead us to greater happiness.
Since returning from his deployment in Afghanistan in 2012, Mr. Manders has spoken publicly about his military service and the difficulties of families adjusting to deployment. He is as comfortable speaking in formal settings such as the Association of the U.S. Army as with chatting with children in a library. In 2017, he launched a new blog, “Faith, Family, and Faithful Service,” at jdmanders.wordpress.com. While speaking in public, he often ran into questions about advice on how to deal with separation and other deployment issues. His blog addresses these issues in brief articles.
