Channing Tatum locked himself in his daughter's room and ended up writing a kids' book

Meet Channing Tatum’s alter-ego, Sparkella. She’s the hero at the centre of a new children’s book penned by the Magic Mike actor himself, but her origin story isn’t as simple as “actor undergoing pandemic-era lockdown decides to flex his creative muscles in a new way.” No, no — Sparkella was born out of a very particular experience in which Tatum accidentally locked himself inside the bedroom of a seven-year-old girl (his daughter with ex Jenna Dewan) and was forced to get back in touch with his inner child.Spoiler alert: Channing’s inner child loooooooves glitter. And unicorns. And glittery unicorns.

 

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Guys, I don’t know about you but things got a little weird for me in quarantine. I ended up accidentally locking myself in my 7 year old daughter’s room. And I ended up finding my inner child. So this is what I created for my little girl. From what is, I guess, the little girl in me. Thanks for reading. #Sparkella bit.ly/OneAndOnlySparkella

A post shared by Channing Tatum (@channingtatum) on Aug 31, 2020 at 11:00am PDT

The One And Only Sparkella (that’s the new kids book with illustrations by Kim Barnes) is a story about self-esteem, school bullies, and a daughter’s relationship with her dad who encourages her to stand up, stand out, and to always be true to herself. Following her first day at school, Tatum’s protagonist finds that “her new classmates don't like her disco-ball shoes, her PB&J-with-sprinkles sandwich, or her rainbow-y unicorn painting” so she “decides to try to be less sparkly at school the next day so the other kids won't make fun of her.” That’s where her dad intervenes, encouraging his daughter to express her individuality in all the magical forms it takes.Tatum says that he wrote the book with his daughter, Everly, in mind, adding that the story sprang from “the little girl in him.” As did, we’d guess, the amazing lewk he’s rocking in the above photo. This isn’t the first time the star has publicly stepped up on behalf of his daughter. Late last year he posted a video of Everly practising martial arts fighting with her dad (all suited up for safety purposes, naturally). Tatum wrote in the caption, “In my experience fear most times leads to bad decisions. Being calm and secure with your mind and body...Make great opportunity for good decisions. Violence is 100% never the answer. But having a daughter I always want her to feel safe in her being. And god help the person that ever poke the beast inside this little angel.”The One And Only Sparkella is available for pre-order on Amazon and at most major bookstores.[video_embed id='1992047']RELATED: The importance of representation in children’s literature[/video_embed]