Books

Little Broken Cookie

As I write, it is October 1, 2019, and I just received the very first illustration of my very first published children’s picture book, Little Broken Cookie.  Needless to say, I was so full of joy and excitement that I can hardly contain myself.  So I thought I would write about how this sweet story came to life.

When I became a mother to Khloe’ and Maya, my life changed in so many ways I cannot even count.  I remember feeling very protective of my little babies (remember, as a first time mommy, I had twins!), and I felt *sensitive* to the world.  As time passed, I started to see the need for more Empathy and Kindness in our world.

As babies then toddlers, I have been instilling Empathy and Kindness in Khloe’ and Maya (and myself!).  I try to find lessons of Empathy in everyday life with them, so one day, Khloe’ and Maya were each having a snack.  No, it wasn’t cookies; it was actually a banana. Maya’s banana fell on the ground, and she started to cry. To my absolute joy, Khloe’ broke off part of her banana and handed it to Maya.  Although the banana was being squashed in Khloe’s little fingers, Maya was so happy to have another snack, and I was observing my little daughter being empathetic toward another human being.

Over the next couple of days, what happened between Khloe’ and Maya stayed with me…meandering around my mind, and one very early morning (4 am!) I woke up with the story fully in my mind.  I went straight to the kitchen table and started to write, and as for the title, well, “Little Broken Banana” didn’t have the same ring to it as “Little Broken Cookie”; thus the title change.  

The story made its way into a pretty storage box, and after a few years and a few moves, I came across it and read it.  I really loved the tender story of sharing and then had the idea of sharing it with the world. The process of getting a story from paper to a full color book is for another Blog, and it is still in the works, but this morning, when I opened the gorgeous first illustration from the incredibly talented artist Tracey Taylor Arvidson, I felt so excited and so happy to share Khloe’s small but gracious gesture to spread a little Empathy and Kindness in our world.

Sparkles the Spider Learns to Love Herself

I am always interested in (and thankful for) readers’ comments about my stories.  Once, someone thought that I chose the title “Little Broken Cookie” because my daughters were ‘little’ at the time I wrote it.  Sweet, but not true.  Recently, an elementary school principal commented about “Sparkles the Spider Learns to Love Herself”.  This educator appreciated the fact that the book doesn’t have a “Hollywood Ending”. She is right.  The main character doesn’t find a friend at the end of the story; she doesn’t need to.  Although during the story Sparkles tries to find a friend, and even changes herself to do so, in the end, Sparkles learns that she is fine just the way she is.

What a great message for our children (and ourselves!) When the publisher asked me to write a summary of the story, I kept going back to the words ‘self-love’ and ‘self-acceptance’.  How do we teach these concepts to children?  Can they even be taught?  Our children are exposed to a barrage of advertising and marketing for products that promise to make us better, happier, prettier, smarter, so when children see a lovable character with flaws and failures, we are countering the push of perfection from society.  When children see a character learn a lesson – that she is fine just the way she is – children can connect to her human side – even if that human side is depicted as a purple spider with teal eyes. Showing children stories of struggle with deep concepts gives them a role model (if Sparkles is okay with herself, I can be too, right?) and quietly builds a reservoir of resilience inside our children.     I am proud of Sparkles for finding herself instead of finding a Hollywood ending, and may each of us continue to celebrate our own self-love and self-acceptance.

The Little Girl and the Snowman

New Book Coming Soon