For educators & school counselors
Books that meet children where they actually are
I wrote these books because I have lived alongside children in hard places — as a single mother, as an advocate, and as someone who believes that the right story at the right moment can change a child’s relationship with their own feelings. These aren’t books about anxiety and resilience. They are books that help children recognize themselves, feel less alone, and learn they are worthy of love exactly as they are.
Already being used in classrooms and counseling offices
These books found their way into schools before I ever designed a curriculum guide. Here is what educators discovered on their own.
These books found their way into schools before I ever designed a curriculum guide. Here is what educators discovered on their own.
A school psychologist created district-wide curriculum around Lulu and the Hullabaloo after a school visit — rolling it out across an entire school district for use in counseling and classroom settings.
— School district, Midwest
A 5th grade ESL teacher used Lulu and the Hullabaloo — written for ages 4–9 — as a language acquisition tool with her English language learners, finding the emotional clarity of the story bridged both language and comprehension barriers.
— Elementary school, ESL classroom
A 5th grade teacher used Lulu and the Hullabaloo with her newly arrived immigrant students — children navigating not only a new language but the trauma and loss that comes with leaving everything familiar behind. She found that Lulu’s story of fear, courage, and finding calm gave her students a way to name what they were carrying. The children wrote letters in response to the book. Their words are a reminder of why this story exists.
— 5th grade ESL classroom
What each book addresses
Each title targets a distinct emotional territory, so you can match the right book to a child’s specific need — or use the collection together as a classroom SEL resource across the year.
Lulu and the Hullabaloo
Ages 4–9 · Picture book
• Coping tools
• ESL tested
• SEL aligned
Teaches deep breathing, positive self-talk, and seeking trusted adults. Ideal for classroom morning meetings, counseling sessions, or as an introduction to anxiety for the whole class. Works across a wider age range than the cover suggests — confirmed in ESL use with 5th graders.
The Brightest Bulb
Ages 4–9 · Picture book
• Self-worth
• SEL aligned
A note on trauma-informed use
My personal experience — as a single mother for over 15 years, as an adoptive parent, and as someone who has walked alongside families navigating trauma — shapes every book I write. The characters are animals and objects, not children, and that distance is intentional. It gives children permission to feel what the character feels without the story being about them directly. School psychologists and counselors have found this creates a natural opening for conversations that are otherwise hard to begin.
My forthcoming title, The Seedling, addresses trauma, resilience, and the idea that we grow around our scars rather than erasing them — inspired directly by my daughter’s experience as an adoptee. It is being developed with trauma-informed educators and counselors in mind.
Bring these books into your school or practice
If you are a teacher, school counselor, psychologist, or curriculum coordinator and would like to discuss classroom sets, bulk pricing, author visits, or how these books might support your students — I would love to hear from you. I am always glad to connect with the people doing this work.