Blog

Kindness By The Scoop

Barbara Gruener

Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day! Today I’m grateful for what this sweet partnership sparked.

As soon as I saw this ad on socials, we headed over to our single-batch shop for a scoop of our favorite flavor!

Not only did the brilliant owner of this scrumptious spot host our Book Tasting Launch and make two flavors just for us, but she also brings them back periodically for us to enjoy. Thank you, Katie, for a spot in your cabinet and for being a catalyst for some acts of kindness both locally and nationwide.

This month started out with National School Counseling Week. It’s the first five days in February set aside for school counselors, a job I got to do for a quarter of a century, to advocate for their positions and let their stakeholders know what the career, no, the calling, is all about. It’s also the perfect opportunity to support those counselors and let them know how much they are appreciated and loved, so I put together a few care packages for some local counselors. What a delight it was to drop off my words of encouragement and a few sweet things to celebrate them, including these character cookies from my friend Brandie at Love + Sugar.

Still energized by Katie’s kindness, I decided to keep the celebration going by selecting six educators in four different states whose work I admire and send them a few pamper-yourself items. One of them texted that it made her day/week/month to be called to the office for a special delivery at her school. Sigh.

When I was a young girl, my parents always told us that it was better to give than to receive, and I didn’t really understand that then, because who doesn’t like to be remembered and appreciated, right? But the jolt of joy that I got sending these superheroes a reminder that they are loved and that their heart work isn’t going unnoticed revived and supercharged me, for sure.

It’s something I’ve really needed as I recover from foot surgery and go through physical therapy to learn to walk again.

So yeah, kindness is circular like that. Katie gave us an incredibly honoring gift, which set me on a kindness crusade and propelled me into action.

That’s what kindness does. It’s more than just a random one-off; it’s a lifestyle of empathy, compassion, and action that knows no calendar.

How do you like to show kindness and express love?

Need a book and activity to spotlight love? Visit the Corner on Character now.

January Blessings Abound

Barbara Gruener

So what does an author do with her time when she’s not working on a book?

My days in January have been spent healing from my foot surgery and traveling to Wisconsin for a visit to my childhood home …

reading words of wisdom from Bob Goff to my 88-year-old Dad …

and checking in on Esther, a revered Centurion in our little village.

Creating and leading Self-love Club growth sessions for my counseling colleagues in two neighboring districts …

while reconnecting with an incredible group of young-adult leaders, (former) students of mine at FHS.

So what am I learning with all of these visits and connections?

That people are wired to be loved and belong.

Somewhere. Anywhere.

To someone. Anyone.

That we cannot give away what we don’t have, and that self-love isn’t braggadocious or loud, but that, instead, it’s quiet, soft, gentle. It’s talking to yourself with that same compassion that you use as you comfort a friend in need.

And that participants of all ages, appreciate that tender reminder to speak grace, kindness, and love into their own souls so that it comes out wholeheartedly toward others.

I’m learning that broken can be beautiful, because the cracks invite the light in.

And that sometimes, we might need to break, so we can grow back stronger and better than ever.

Just like the bunion bone that I had realigned.

Happy 2026, dear reader; thank you for blessing me on this journey through life’s lessons.

Wrapped In Love

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m grateful for readers like Tanya, a school counselor in Montana, for her touching post on IG earlier this week.

It makes my heart soar to see our book in the hands and on the heart of readers like her. And just look at the connection that she made with the book; her daughter’s handiwork (without needles!) is an incredible work of heart.

I had the blessing of gathering online with a panel of teacher authors; click {here} to listen in. It was so much fun to hear their stories and learn more about how their books came about. Special thanks to Josh Tovar and Dr. Moreno for including me in this group of educators.

My cousin texted a photo of Owen’s color sheet after my visit to his school. I just love how he connected back to the story by finishing off his slippers with a pom of a different color.

On this journey through life, I’m learning that love comes in all shapes and sizes, through a chance to connect in person or by receiving a phone call or text following up after the fact.

It might be coming by with a plate of cookies for my husband who just had knee surgery …

or posting a review of a book you liked, just to increase visibility or engagement with the product.

Mine heart happiness has always been sparked by baking, so this week, I baked our Halloween pumpkin, then made six batches of pumpkin bread. I posted on Facebook for anyone local to come pick some up. The Principal of a neighboring school took me up on it, so she could treat her front-office staff to some kindness from my kitchen.

It wrapped my heart in love to get this picture that afternoon. A couple of people I’ve never met came by to get one, too; one of the new friends is making pork egg rolls for us tomorrow. Talk about your win-win.

What’s your go-to way to wrap someone in love?

Our Mom’s Choice Gold Award

Barbara Gruener

I find it so serendipitous that our book earned a Mom’s Choice Gold Award on what would have been my mom’s 88th birthday. Sigh. If only I could share that news with her.

We are honored, grateful, and excited to be endorsed by the MCA family.

After returning to TX from WI, this week included visits with 10 classes to read the book and talk about the writing process with budding authors and illustrators in grades four and five at Bales Intermediate.

The visits all began by talking about selecting a theme – mine is empathy! – and jazzing it up a little with this poem I wrote using the hand-jive motions. Then we talk about choosing a topic, and I share the back story of the unfinished slippers that we found in my grandma Larsen’s closet at her passing, and how, some 15 years later, I was able to finish them and give them to my mom for her stay in the assisted living home.

After reading the story aloud with the illustrations projected on the big screen, I take questions and comments from our listening audience. How it makes my soul sing to hear their feelings, thoughts, and reflections about the text and McKenna’s heartfelt artwork. One young man told me that he noticed I used a lot of literary elements; another asked for my autograph.

In a fun twist, my illustrator was their Art teachers in the primary grades, so they already love her and know so much about using color to convey emotions and mood.

At the end, the most thoughtful thing happened: Mrs. Dixon presented me with a plate of Monster Cookies, from the recipe that she found in the back of the book.

It touched my heart so profoundly that she would not only bake for us, but make Gramma Emma’s cookies. She’s walking the talk as she gives empathy, compassion, and kindness wings.

One last shot from a school visit that has imprinted itself on my heart …

… my wish for you, dear reader, is that you will forever be able to find and feel this kind of unbridled joy.

Second-Grade Superheroes

Barbara Gruener

Today I had the pleasure of visiting not one, but three classes of second-grade superheroes. The first two classes were classmates of my cousin’s son, Owen, in Grafton, WI. It was like a homecoming of sorts, because I was with them last year around this time to read Mr. Quigley’s Keys with them. Today I had the pleasure of sharing Knit Back Together.

Next stop, Mrs. Huber’s class in Cedarburg, WI, where I got to enJOY not only reading my book, but also sharing with them about the writing process, specifically the editing and revising step that some budding authors would rather skip.

I get it; I didn’t much care for the myriad edits that I kept on making, especially when they kept me up at night, but since I wanted the book to be the best that it could be, I kept on revising until I had it exactly the way it is now, two Focus Groups and so many versions later.

After falling for these incredible superhero friends, I left with a spring in my step and a request that they send pictures when they’d finished the coloring sheets we gave them.

Here now, their beautiful works of heart:

Slippers and smiles that exude their best-effort Dolphin pride.

Tomorrow, I’m off to another favorite, Howard Elementary near Green Bay.

As the sun sets on this incredible day, I’m counting my blessings . . .

. . . and that includes you, dear reader. Thank you for being a part of my journey.

A Front-Page Headline

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m feeling so grateful for small-town life, where publishing a book is front-page news.

It was fun to answer Karolyn’s questions about the book, what inspired the story, which traits the tale tackles, what sets our book apart. I’m especially excited to send a copy to my Dad, whose generation really relied on the newspaper for its information.

I’m also excited and grateful for Saturday’s Book Tasting to launch Knit Back Together. Here are some of my favorite memories from the day.

My greatest joy was surprising Frances with a flavor named after her; it had to be purple, so McKenna and she came up with the idea for a Blackberry Lemon and I decided we simply had to call it Fancy Frances.

Our story’s other flavor, Grams’ Monster Cookies (Peanut Butter ice cream with oats, M&Ms and a ribbon of fudge) was in created from the recipe in our book for Gramma Emma’s Monster Cookies. What fun to see our flavors listed on their ever-changing chalkboard.

Imagine enjoying this double decker of deliciousness.

We signed books while reconnecting with treasured community members, like the Perry family, whom I had the pleasure of teaching through my tenure here.

We provided word searches and coloring sheets; didn’t Jackson do an amazing job on his?

His favorite part of the book is the fact that his art teacher’s daughter Frances is in the story. 💜

During our read-aloud time, Frances showed her mom’s original sketches, then we answered questions and talked about our collaboration to make this dream a reality.

We greeted some more friends and former students . . .

. . . and before we knew it, our launch was in the books.

If you’re ever in the Friendswood area, do your taste buds a solid and head on over to the Scoop Shop for some of Katie’s savory flavors.

Have I mentioned how much I love small-town living?

Writing From The Heart

Barbara Gruener

Twenty years ago, a kind volunteer made this quilt for me as a school counselor, from the handprints of our son’s first-grade class family.

This week, I was invited to Mrs. Quigley’s first-grade class to talk about being an author, so I brought it along as a object for the lesson, to remind them that their hands and hearts are a huge part of their story, that they are a part of a whole, and that there are other hands and hearts in their stories. Who are they? I asked. Family, friends, siblings, grandparents, teachers, school counselors, principals, neighbors, coaches, teammates.

I had the pleasure of showing them my three books, talking about realistic fiction, then reading Knit Back Together aloud.

It was especially satisfying because my illustrator is their Art teacher, so they were super excited to see her artwork on the pages of our book. They knew exactly what she was doing with how the colors portrayed feelings, warmth, angst. One first grader even said, “Oh, she took away the color from this page because Levi is feeling empty inside.” How profound is that?

After we read, I gave them each a heart sticker, a page from the book to put on their writing journals …

… as a reminder to always write from the heart.

It left my bucket overflowing to share my stories with these Can-Doers.

Oh, and this past week I updated my Facebook page, so click {here} for all things SEL and charACTer education.

What’s Your Therapist Reading?

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m excited, grateful, and honored to receive this gold from Sara Eddy, counselor extraordinaire here in Texas.

In her words: 10/10 recommend your book; it turned out so great!

I’m loving this idea of a stitch map to show people in our care that grief can be messy, just like a knotted up piece of thread, and that it’s a process, just like knitting a pair of slippers or a scarf, from the initial cast on until the end-of-project bind off.

Ah, the knitting metaphor: I an enamored with the idea of discussing the spectrum of grief from its potential to unravel us to its gift for us to revisit, reattach, and eventually restitch our lives as we move forward into our new normal.

This makes my heart so happy, that Sara would share these incredible story-stretching resources with us.

In case you want a hardcover copy, it’s available now at Barnes & Noble online.

Feeling Perfectly Purple

Barbara Gruener

Mark your calendars because you’re invited to a Book Tasting at the Scoop Shop.

Of course, you’ll have to come to Friendswood, but it’ll be worth it because we’ve got some special surprises for our aspiring authors and illustrators, the best of which is going to be not one but two small-batch flavors to celebrate our story.

Can you guess what those flavors will be? What flavors would you create for our book?

We will also be reading sections, signing books, and giving out stickers and coloring pages, so we’d love to see you there.

In other news, we got our first Amazon review, from the mom of two of the young people on our Young Minds Focus Group.

I can’t wait to taste how their Monster Cookies turn out.

Then there’s this second review that has left its footprint on my heart.

If this is what feeling purple looks like, I’ll take two scoops.

International Day Of Peace

Barbara Gruener

So yesterday was not only International Day of Peace, but it was also a pretty special Sunday for me as an author. First, I reflected on how we celebrated this important calendar date when I was the school counselor at Westwood Elementary. Imagine ‘Whirled’ Peace, 1000 pinwheels strong; our students were Peacemakers, for sure.

Then, pictures of Knit Back Together being delivered started showing up. The first one was a picture from my cousin Amy in Illinois announcing that her book had been delivered.

This one is extra-special because she’s got a family history room in their home which houses a bunch of artifacts from our ancestors, including the slippers that my Grandma Larsen knit, the seed for our realistic-fiction piece.

Then I got this picture from two of our Young Minds Focus Teammates, Cecily and Daisy.

Since they’ve been making the story’s swag, I had gotten them a copy as well, so when mine arrived, off we went to their place for another special delivery.

It was my heart’s delight to sign their books and listen to them read my story aloud.

I received a few more before bedtime with some really kind feedback, all of which overflowed my bucket. As if that weren’t enough excitement, my episode of Brandon Beck’s Unlocking Unlimited Potential podcast dropped during the night and I got to share my personal story and talk about collaborating with an illustrator to create my picture books.

Tune in {here} to listen in on our conversation about educating by and for the heart.

My heart is full as I work with intention to put love out into the world in thought, word, and deed. Do reach out if ever I can help you in your character building.