What do you want to be when you grow up?

A new book, “So Many Ways to Be Holy: A Child’s Book about Vocations,” asks that question while offering young children a unique look at career choices through the lens of serving God.

Author Kristen Soley, a member of St. Mary in Waverly, penned the book, which features rhymes and colorful photos of children portraying vocations such as farmers, astronauts, artists, scientists, priests and nuns.

“It’s a fun way to introduce your children to their call to holiness and how God, through our vocation, leads us to him,” Soley said.

Another component of the book, edited and designed by Jerry Windley-Daoust of Peanut Butter & Grace Books, which also co-published the book with Holy Heroes, is its tie to the saints.

“Look at the lives of the saints and the paths they had to walk,” said Soley. “As St. Catherine of Siena said, ‘Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.’”

Soley weaves prayers to patron saints into the book. For example, “Could you be a scientist, exploring God’s creation?” is paired with “St. Albert the Great, patron of scientists, pray for us!”

“I had read a lot of books about saints and their amazing lives — those are my superheroes,” Soley said. “I want to be like them and give my life to God and reflect him.”

Soley, her husband Nate, and their seven children, who range in age from 6 to 17, enjoy life in Waverly. She is currently home schooling five of their children.

“We’re just super blessed to have had seven pregnancies and seven healthy babies,” she said. “We opened our hearts to a larger family and to have me stay home instead of working outside the home …. When you give (God) a little bit of trust, he gives you volumes back.”

Soley’s strong faith has been tested. In 2015, she faced a major health crisis, successfully undergoing a bone marrow transplant for Aplastic anemia. That was followed by harrowing news: Soley had developed a form of cancer throughout her body that strikes transplant patients. She beat that as well.

Soley’s first book, “My Confession Handbook, Jr.: A Child’s Worry-Free Handbook to the Treasure of the Sacrament of Reconciliation,” was written during time she said God gave her during recovery. And God played a hand in Soley’s desire to write her new book.

“I have such a smile on my face when I picture parents reading that last page with their children,” she said. “It’s a prayer: ‘God, send your Holy Spirit to help me become the person you made me to be; to listen for your call; and to answer with a glad heart.’”