Wonder

Where Do Butterflies Go at Night? – 2nd Edition

/ still a dreamer / 5 Comments

It’s here! ”Where Do Butterflies Go at Night?” – 2nd Edition is now available. While newly designed and formatted, the book still has the same heartwarming story with the lush and magical illustrations of Stella Maris Mongodi.

Why a 2nd Edition? Due to “Butterflies” first publisher unfortunately closing their doors, my beautiful picture book would disappear or … I could save it. I wanted kids to be able to still read of a child’s rich imagination as to where butterflies went at night, and also how they could help them. I decided to purchase the illustrations and acquired permission to use them to self-publish my book.

The challenge? The dimensions of the original book are not offered by POD publishers. This meant a new size and gave me the opportunity to do a re-design. As a graphic designer and an artist, myself, I was able to re-create “Butterflies” in this gorgeous, new book.

Please consider welcoming “Where Do Butterflies Go at Night?” – 2nd Edition into your home and share the magic with a child, available on Amazon.

Wonder

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

Look up and find the dragon in the clouds; or watch a beetle negotiate freshly cut grass; or marvel at the expanse of rose and peach satin that is a sunset. Look at the miracle that is how your hands work.

Never lose your sense of wonder – it has surprising strength to help us through.

The Holidays Are Here!

/ still a dreamer / 9 Comments

And it’s the time of year for those of us who create for a living to remind visitors that all the things we’ve worked so hard on are ready to be gifted!

If you’re looking for a great gift for a child, you can really never go wrong with a book. And if you want a book that will light up the eyes of a little one with wonder, please consider my Where Do Butterflies Go at Night? The story is in rhyme, and takes you through an enchanted nighttime journey while the little boy dreams of the possibilities of where his cabbage white friends go when they disappear at dusk.

I was so fortunate to have the artwork done by illustrator Stella Mongodi – she really found the magic in my words and brought them to life. Butterflies is available at all major online booksellers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, bookshop, and more.

May your holidays be wonderfully filled with good books and good reading!

Spring Daffodil

/ still a dreamer / 18 Comments

“A wizard must have passed this way

Since — was it only yesterday?

Then all was bare, and now, behold,

A hundred cups of living gold!”

~ Emma C. Dowd, “Daffodil and Crocus,” April 1902

Inspired by the daffodil above, my niece shared some of the lovely daffodils from her own garden, sitting pretty in a vase she rescued from a neighbor who was about to get rid of it. What a happy choice!

Precepts, Quotes and Words to Live By

/ still a dreamer / 6 Comments

Wonder-RJPalacio2I am always a big fan of these, which, to me, are more or less the same thing. I tend to think of them as quotes, but in the book I just finished, Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, these are referred to as precepts by Mr. Browne, a character in the book and a middle grade English teacher at Beecher Prep. (I will write more on Wonder soon – this is what lit my spark today.)

Mr. Browne found that his students were more inspired by a quote he had once discovered than by how it had greatly influenced his life, so at the beginning of each month, he wrote a precept on the board. The class discussed it during the month, and at the end of the month, the students wrote an essay about it. Over the summer, his students were encouraged to write their own, or some other inspiring precept and send it to Mr. Browne. What a great teaching idea for real life, eh?

The copy of Wonder lent to me by a friend was part of a boxed set which also included a second volume called 365 Days of Wonder, Mr. Browne’s published selection of a year’s worth of quotes on the issues written about in Wonder, which, in a nutshell, is about kindness as well as overcoming adversity and bullying.

Midsummer Eve painted by Robert Hughes, 1908

Midsummer Eve by Robert Hughes, 1908

He also includes some precepts submitted by his fictional students. This is a really great accompaniment to a book that addresses these issues so well and would hopefully be an inspiration to Wonder‘s middle grade readers, (not to mention a brilliant marketing idea.)

So I started to read the precepts/quotes.

I was entranced by the quote on January 2nd written by Roald Dahl, (of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach fame, if you’re not familiar).

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

It just brought a rush of imagery and creativity to me – “glittering eyes”, indeed, and sparkling thoughts. I am always amazed how such seemingly small tidbits drop right into our laps when we least expect and need them most. Or I am just paraphrasing Roald Dahl?

Have an inspiring day!