An interview about For You, I Hope by Ken Rohlf, presented by The Children’s Book Review.
Today, we sit down with Ken Rohlf, the author of For You, I Hope, a heartfelt collection of wishes and hopes for the next generation, inspired by the birth of his first grandchild and his deep reflections on family, legacy, and life’s values.
Ken Rohlf’s For You, I Hope is a beautiful collection of heartfelt wishes and hopes for children, inspired his experiences as a parent and grandparent. The book blends aspirations for adventure with core values like kindness, integrity, and empathy, offering guidance for navigating life’s challenges and joys.
In our conversation, Ken shares the deeply personal moments that led to the book’s creation, the thoughtful process behind selecting the hopes featured within, and how the book’s universal message of love and connection is reflected in the diverse illustrations. Ken also discusses the importance of family legacy and the impact he hopes the book will have on both childhood literacy and emotional development.
Your book is dedicated to your grandchildren and represents your hopes for them. Was there a specific moment or event that inspired you to write this collection of hopes and wishes?
Ken Rohlf (KR): Absolutely. The moment that truly inspired For You, I Hope came on April 26, 2024. That was the day my first grandchild was born. I was holding his tiny body in my arms, completely overwhelmed by love and awe. As you get a little older and step into grandparenthood, you begin to see life through a different lens. You recognize just how precious every moment is, and how much possibility lies ahead for a new life. In that moment, I was flooded with thoughts of all the experiences, challenges, joys, and milestones that awaited him. That’s when I knew I wanted to write down all of my greatest hopes, not just for him, but for every child navigating this big, beautiful world.
The dedication mentions that you can’t help but “close your eyes and dream about all of the hopes” you have for young people. What process did you use to distill these many hopes into the specific ones featured in the book?
KR: As a longtime youth baseball coach, I’ve spent years collecting meaningful quotes, notes, and reflections, many from my own experiences and others from interviews and conversations with fellow coaches. I’ve always been drawn to the life lessons that sports and mentorship can teach. When I began writing For You, I Hope, I simply started by pouring all of those thoughts onto paper. I wrote freely, putting down everything I’ve ever hoped a young person would come to know or believe about themselves. From there, I shared the draft with my trusted inner circle. These were people who know me and the heart behind this project. After receiving their comments, I refined the list, keeping only those pages that felt truly essential and heartfelt. In the end, each page reflects something I deeply and genuinely wish for the children in our lives.
The book includes beautiful sentiments like “I hope you float down a river of big dreams” and “I hope your handshake is firm and your word is gold.” Which hope resonated with you most deeply as you wrote the book?
KR: My favorite page is “When you need it, I hope you find a shoulder to lean on.” Not only do I love the text, but the illustration really represents what we all need at various points in our life. Although For You, I Hope radiates positivity, I knew I couldn’t write it without acknowledging that life also brings challenges. Pain, loss, hard moments. They’re all part of our journey. Our family knows this all too well. This was the last page I wrote, and, like I mentioned, somehow, it has become the most beautiful and meaningful to me. When I see the illustration, I can’t help but think of the friends and loved ones who surrounded our family after the loss of my wife, Sherri. That outpouring of love carried us. It still does. This page is for those moments. This page is for those people.
Your book balances aspirational hopes like “seeing the world” with character-building values like integrity. How did you strike this balance between adventure and moral guidance?
KR: I really spent a lot of time reflecting on what truly matters most to me, not just as a writer, but as a parent and now a grandparent. I wanted to honor the dreams we all have for our children to explore the world, chase big goals, and lead exciting, fulfilling lives. But at the same time, I believe it’s just as important to ground those dreams in core values like kindness, integrity, and empathy. The last page of the book, “I hope you see the world and always find your way home,” really captures that balance for me. It represents the idea that while we work hard to prepare our children to go out into the world, we always hope they’ll keep coming back, not necessarily to move back in, but to stay connected, to talk, to visit, and to keep us close as they grow. That hope is at the heart of the book: sending them off with love and values, and hoping they carry both with them wherever they go.
The illustrations in For You, I Hope feature diverse children in various settings. How vital was representation to you when creating this book?
KR: Capturing diversity in the children shown throughout For You, I Hope was absolutely critical to me. Our world is beautifully diverse, and I wanted this book to reflect that truth and to make sure that every child who reads it can see themselves on the pages and feels that the hopes articulated are meant for them, too. The message of this book is universal, and it was important that the illustrations matched that spirit by representing children of all ethnicities, backgrounds, and experiences. Hope belongs to everyone, and I wanted that to come through in both the words and the illustrations.
You previously wrote Christmas Sun—A Beautiful Tradition to Remember Grandma to honor your late wife’s memory. How does For You, I Hope continue or expand upon the themes of family connection and legacy?
KR: Although losing my wife at age 55 to a short but courageous battle with pancreatic cancer was incredibly traumatic for me and our family, I’ve come to learn that far too many families have similar stories of loss. Christmas Sun was my way of creating something meaningful. That is, a tool that could help families preserve the memory of a loved one who passed before a child or grandchild ever got the chance to meet them. For You, I Hope is a natural continuation of that journey. It builds on the theme of family connection but looks toward the future. It’s a love letter to young people, filled with hope, wisdom, and encouragement. While Christmas Sun helps preserve a legacy, For You, I Hope helps build one. It instills the values and dreams we wish to pass down to the next generation. Both books, in their own way, are about making sure the love we feel within a family carries on.
What feedback or reactions from young readers have surprised or moved you most since publishing the book?
KR: Although the official release of For You, I Hope is set for May 31, 2025, I’ve already had one unforgettable reaction that moved me deeply and it came from my 1-year-old grandson, Oliver. I received an Author Proof of the book, and as we flipped through the pages together, something magical happened. There are several illustrations throughout the book filled with big, joyful smiles, and every time Oliver saw one, his whole face lit up. He pointed at the smiling faces… and he literally smiled right back. Watching that moment unfold reminded me just how powerful a simple smile can be. How contagious joy is. And how even the smallest gesture (like a shared smile) can brighten someone’s day, especially a child’s. For You, I Hope is filled with little hopes just like that, hopes wrapped in kindness, connection, and love. And this one? “I hope you make someone smile today.” It might just be one of the most important hopes of all. Thanks to Oliver, for showing me that smiles are a universal language, and sometimes, the truest form of connection.
As a father and grandfather, how has your perspective on what’s important to share with children evolved over time, and how is that transformation reflected in For You, I Hope?
KR: I think like many parents, when you’re in the thick of raising kids—balancing work, schedules, and daily life—you’re often just grinding through the day. There’s love and intention, of course, but everything moves fast. Now, as a grandfather, I find myself with more space and time to reflect. I’m out of the “rat race,” and that distance gives you more clarity. You start to see the bigger picture of what really matters. For You, I Hope is a direct reflection of that shift in perspective. It’s filled with the values, feelings, and guidance I want to pass on, not just the things we teach in the moment, but the deeper hopes we carry for our children and grandchildren. Hopes about kindness, integrity, curiosity, joy, and connection. Things that last. Things that matter most. And I think that’s the biggest gift that more time has given me. That is, being able to slow down and put those hopes into words.
Your book mentions that a portion of the profits will be donated to Sherri’s Books, an organization named after your wife that promotes children’s literacy. What impact do you hope For You, I Hope will have on childhood literacy and emotional development?
KR: I think from an emotional development perspective, in a world with a lot of negativity, I feel confident that the book can bring hope to all children that read it or have it read to them. It is truly a positive book and a book of hope and encouragement and shares values that sometimes we, as parents, are too busy to impart on our young ones. On the literacy side, the repetitive structure of the book, especially the phrase “I hope you…” is incredibly straightforward to young readers. Those are powerful, easy-to-recognize words, and my hope is that they might even be among the first a child learns to read. And what a beautiful thing that would be. A child’s first steps into reading wrapped in messages of hope, kindness, and belief in themselves.
What are your future writing plans, particularly in the realm of children’s literature? Will you continue to explore similar themes or do you have new ideas in mind?
KR: Absolutely. My goal is to write children’s picture books that deliver meaningful, memorable messages. I have written my third book and that is scheduled for release later this fall. It’s titled, Best Friends – A Tale of a Boy and his Dog. It is a touching story of a boy and his puppy coming of age together and embodies the joys of unconditional love between two best friends as they make their way into adulthood together. You can learn more about me and my books at www.kenrohlfbooks.com.
About the Book
Publisher’s Book Summary: For You, I Hope is like giving a beloved child a piece of your heart—assuring them that they are cherished and deeply loved. With encouraging words and captivating illustrations, it is a book that both children and adults will return to again and again.
Buy the Book
About the Author
Ken Rohlf is the father of two and recently became a grandfather for the first time. He lives in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and enjoys gathering with family and friends, traveling, and spending time at the cabin.
Ken started his journey into children’s picture books with the award-winning and best-selling title, Christmas Sun – A Beautiful Tradition to Remember Grandma, to help keep the memory of his late wife alive for his new grandson.
In his second book, For You, I Hope, Ken imparts wishful words of wisdom and encouragement to young children… and to all of its readers.
A portion of the profits from Ken’s books will be donated to Sherri’s Books – an organization named after his wife that promotes children’s literacy.
Visit him online at www.kenrohlfbooks.com.
This interview—An Interview with Ken Rohlf, Author of ‘For You, I Hope’—was conducted between Ken Rohlf and Bianca Schulze.
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