For purchase now at www.amazon.com and in the iBooks store!
I’m thrilled to announce the eBook edition of Bella Bug Says, ‘Let Me See!’
It’s a children’s book. I wrote it for children. I created characters and painted pictures with children in mind.
And yet time and again, day after day, I find my adult self thinking about Bella Bug.
As I struggle with my teenagers on their journey toward adulthood, I am reminded often of our plucky little heroine, Bella, who finds herself literally stuck in a rut. Only a new perspective—looking at things in new ways—frees her from her predicament.
Bella Bug is stubborn, at first, and resistant to change, and maybe her feelings are hurt a little because she doesn’t know what to do. She looks a lot like me on my worst days of parenting.
Thanks to a little help (from friends and elders with different points-of-view), Bella sees a way out. She finds solutions instead of excuses. She chooses to see good; she chooses hope; she laughs at herself. Her journey looks a lot like the best parts of parenting teenagers.
As it turns out, I really wrote this book for grown-ups. Most of all, me.
My friend Rita entrusted me with her vision: a picture book to help children understand the importance of a positive world-view. As usual, the collaboration with Rita brought many things into focus, including the urgency of this message for adults--and especially for parents of teenagers. As Rita and I tossed around idioms (seeing eye-to-eye, tunnel vision, rose-colored glasses) Bella Bug and her companions taught us a lot of grown-up things about sight, vision, and how we see the world. Making sense of things for children (as usual) helps us make sense of things for ourselves.
This eBook is a joyful thing. The vivid illustrations come to life in tablet format. It includes even more skills-based, cross-curricular, multi-generational lesson plans, activities, discussion starters and writing prompts. Teachers, parents and book clubs alike will enjoy the opportunities there for extending learning about the theme of the story!
I hope you will gift it to the young children you know—they love Bella, and I love seeing them enjoy her without fear of ripping paper pages! I also hope you will consider reading it yourself, and discussing it as a family.
With teenagers around, conversation comes in fits and starts. Short-hand phrases, such as, “How you see can set you free,” or “What would Bella Bug do about that?” can be helpful when it’s time to make our point efficiently. Maybe sneak the book onto their tablets, too . . perhaps they’ll look at it in moments of pure desperation or boredom. You never know with teenagers!
Most of all, I hope my adult friends will be encouraged by Bella. I hope we'll think of her when we are stuck in adult ruts, and when we have very adult decisions to make. When our teenagers are lost or in trouble, when they are challenging us, defying us, and making decisions we cannot stand, may we all take a deep breath and ask, along with Bella, for a new way to see. I hope this little picture book will find a place in your heart.
How we see can set us free!
(Check it out - $9.99 on amazon.com and on iBooks! Search my name or the book title, and there she is!)