Getty HGTV star Mina Starsiak Hawk poses at the premiere of "A Very Brady Renovation" in 2019.
HGTV star Mina Starsiak Hawk may be best known for her home renovation skills, but she also happens to be a children’s book author. Her picture book, “Built Together,” was published in 2021. The book’s summary notes that the story is a “celebration of diversity and acceptance,” which highlights that “no two families look exactly alike.”
Mina Starsiak Hawk Spoke About Her Book During an August 2021 Interview
During an August 2021 appearance on the “For The Love” podcast, Hawk explained the reason she decided to become a children’s book author. She revealed that she has been collecting stories for a potential memoir.
“I have like a Google Doc called ramblings and it’s all like my adult ramblings that would eventually would be in this like — not a memoir because I’m not old enough and I haven’t done cool enough stuff to have a memoir but kind of a look behind the curtain,” shared the mother-of-two.
She explained that while she would eventually like to publish a memoir, it is “a big undertaking.” She stated that she believed penning a children’s book is a less overwhelming task.
“A kid’s book, although it’s still a big undertaking it’s like what 80 words. It’s easier to come up with,” said the HGTV star.
She also noted that she was unsatisfied with children’s media.
“But having kids — I mean there’s just so many terrible shows and terrible books that just have a weird messaging and like reinstilling those like gender stereotypes and just weird stuff so reading all, like having all of those and finding the good ones, that’s what kind of got my brain going,” shared Hawk.
The 36-year-old also noted that her “family is very non-traditional,” which is something she wanted to normalize. She explained that “both of [her] parents have been married four times” and that she has step-siblings, half-siblings, and was a foster parent to her sister’s daughter at one point.
“So the idea of having a book, obviously kids aren’t really going to understand that in a concrete way but you know, it gets into their little sponges brain in the back that families can look like anything just like your house can. You can paint it any color you can build it anyway. It’s whatever works for you and respect how you’re neighbor build theirs because that’s their house and support and love them even if it’s different and ideally we create these very enlightened, lovely adults all from a kid’s book,” shared Hawk.
Mina Starsiak Hawk Shared Similar Comments in February 2021
Hawk made similar comments about her book during a February 2021 interview with LiveSigning. She noted that she was unhappy with children’s programming and started “thinking about where this is going in like the little gooey brains of the kids.”
“Some of it is just, I don’t want it anywhere near them, that just kind of got the wheels turning about all these things that they see when they are little that just starts molding these tiny humans. And a lot of it is not so awesome and so that kind of got me thinking about what kind of kids I want to raise and the messages I want to send them,” said Hawk.