Christian author, mom of seven children, and political contender (she ran for Congress in 2022) Heidi St. John is also a veteran social media influencer. In fact, St. John is among the trailblazer moms who created the motherhood and parenting space on the interwebs. St. John was an influencer before "influencing" was a thing. In the early aughts, St. John penned her thoughts on a social weblog called Xanga—pre-Facebook and pre WordPress.

Well, it was an accident. I started just, you know—some women are crocheting to relieve stress or whatever—I like to write. I'll write something and then I like to read it back out loud to see what kind of a cadence does it have. I just like the sound of the written word. 

So did other mommies, who were drawn to St. John's real-world tales of raising and homeschooling her seven children. The blog grew, and so did her reach. St. John became an author, public speaker, and podcaster and has captivated tens of thousands through her blog, podcast, books, and social media presence. 

Her MomStrong International created an online community that provides scriptural guidance and spiritual support to thousands of mothers. Fifteen years after that first Xanga blog post, St. John has authored eight books on motherhood, homeschooling, and parenting. She said she did it because it was fun, but with the explosion of social media, and the changing landscape of "Media Influencers," St. John has become disheartened by what a formerly collaborative space has turned into.

I've been writing mostly for Tyndale [Publishing], and yeah, I mean, I just, I I really just did it for fun. I never did it for money. And honestly, I I have seen, you know, most of my kids are grown now, but I have watched the blogosphere kind of go from nothing to sort of exploding. Now it's really podcasting sort of, and people have made the shift to podcast. But I have watched women who wrote books about the same time I did, who literally throw their lives away for that fame. Throw their marriage away, everything becomes about likes on Instagram and stuff, and I guess I don't really enjoy it very much anymore. 

So, when Brave Books tapped her on the shoulder to be a part of their publishing movement, she jumped at the chance.

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I love what they're doing. We have a crisis with our children right now, and it is that we have moved away from the foundations of truth, and we have become unhitched, unmoored from traditionalism. And in so doing, [we have] become unhitched from the things that actually help make us a whole and healthy society, and whole and healthy families.

St. John's ninth book, and her first partnership with Brave Books is, "The Mouse And The Sea." This is the final adventure in the "Freedom Island" series, and offers a message of encouragement to children to learn to seek proper help and find strength in healthy and supportive community. Americans place a premium on independence and self-reliance. and it has its place. But "The Mouse And The Sea" serves a lesson in the power of partnership, especially during challenging times—and we are in the midst of those times.

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EXCLUSIVE: Brave Books CEO Talks Freedom Island Tour, Kirk Cameron, and Taking Back Culture

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Founder and CEO of Brave Books, Trent Talbot told RedState:

As a veteran influencer, St. John had particular insight into that world, and a generation of Millennials, Gen Zers and even Gen Alpha who are unmoored and sick of a world being fed to them where nothing is real and nothing really matters.

Look, people are sick of Fake News, fake journalism, artificial intelligence, doctored pictures, you know, Pinterest perfect stupidity[....]

Especially if you're talking about Millennials, you know, and the Gen Zers. They're the ones who are going to reap the whirlwind, right? We sow the wind and we reap the whirlwind. And these guys are going to be right up in the funnel.

These generations are all too familiar with sowing to the wind, which is why they are being swept up in the maelstrom of Instagram, TikTok, and every social media platform blowing them into false communities like transgenders, drag kids, and white, Jewish, and Christian hate. If it's counter to traditions and counter to the culture, it is ready and lurking to suck your child into its wake. St. John speaks to the need for parents to assert their responsibility over their children, and take the lead in asking for help within the context of a healthy community. She said:

Instagram is one of the worst. I think the first thing parents need to do is recognize the Internet is not your child's friend. And a parent who really wants to be engaged and protect the heart of their child, which is the primary responsibility of a parent, right? I can't tell you the number of parents I talked to who say, "I so wish I hadn't given my kids a phone. I so wish that I would have said, you know what? I know you're begging me for TikTok, but we're not doing that or I know you really want a Facebook account, but we're just not doing that."

Part of what my responsibility as a mother is to be in my child's business, right? The world tells you, and the schools are telling you, oh, hey, drop your kid off at school and we will take care of the reading, writing and arithmetic—except for it's not reading, writing and arithmetic—it's everything but that, right?! We do the same thing in the Christian community. We drop our kids off at church and we expect the youth pastor to be the pastor to our teenagers and the Sunday school to do the spiritual formation of our little ones. But God's word teaches us that this responsibility falls squarely on parents. It doesn't mean we can't and shouldn't ask for help. It means we understand that the responsibility is mine, and so, it's also my responsibility to get help.

I think that's part of where the message of this book is good for mothers as well as good for families to say, "Hey if you need help, ask for it."

The latest so-called conservative trend in the influencer space is called "Trad Wives." St. John had LOTS to say about this, not in a mocking, derisory way, but from the perspective of a mother who recognizes a generation of children who are desperate for substance, longing for traditional roles, and reaching back for the authentic; albeit in all the wrong ways.

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St. John's partnership with Brave is a breath of fresh air, for her voice, her audience, and the new readers who will benefit from her generational wisdom.

I'm really, really excited to be partnering with Brave. I love what they're doing. I'd love to see us get back to things that are life-giving for this generation that don't look like the Trad Wives. We're not putting a lot of unrealistic expectations on families. We're saying, Hey, there's life in just sitting down and reading a story. There's life in passing on generational wisdom to your children, and it's something that's worth pursuing.

You can find Heidi St. John and her work at heidistjohn.com. You can find "The Mouse And The Sea," as well as other Brave Book titles on their website.