Tag: books

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.

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.

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.

#KnitBackTogether Debuts

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m excited to share our bios from the book’s back pages.

We chose these very personal pictures on purpose: McKenna’s daughter, Frances, shares the same name as our story’s main character and her model for the illustrations. In my picture, Grandma Larsen is giving me a coveted pair of her hand-knit slippers, the seed for our story.

I’m also excited to share that our book, now live on Amazon, made it to the top of the charts in the Grandparents category over night. Such a fun text to get from my publisher this afternoon.

Screenshot from Amazon

My copies are due here tomorrow and I cannot wait to hold our book in my hands.

We’ve also scheduled our launch, A Book Tasting, at the Friendswood Scoop Shop on October 11, 2025, from 12:00 until 1:30 pm. McKenna and I will be there to share the scoop on all things aspiring authors and illustrators want to know, we’ll be signing some books, and we’ll be sampling the two flavors that our friend Katie will be adding to the store’s freezer to celebrate our story.

It is, indeed, an exciting time for us; thank you for joining us on our journey.

Birthday Swag

Barbara Gruener

It’s officially September, which means it’s our new book’s birthday month!

This time around, I thought it might be fun to celebrate with some swag, so I enlisted Daisy to make me some stickers.

What I didn’t know was that her mom would throw in some custom magnets and her sister Cecily would surprise me with some buttons, and I’m so grateful for their kindness and generosity.

So now all we need is for Amazon and B&N Online to let us know that it’s live and available for purchase. Fingers crossed that it’s this week.

In case you missed it on our home page, we’ve gotten some heart-felt reviews; check out these reflections from author and friend, Claire Noland.

KNIT {BACK} TOGETHER is a beautifully written and illustrated story of intergenerational love, remembrance, and friendship. This charming, heartwarming story is told in first person by Levi, a boy who has moved in with his grandmother. He feels safe and warm with Grams and loves their time together. Grams is a knitter and spends time creating gifts for others. She promised to teach her grandson to knit but, sadly, that day never came as she became ill and was gone too soon.

Lost and flooded with unfamiliar emotions, Levi struggles but learns that his new class has a knitting corner. Frances, a classmate, offers to teach him to knit, and though he’s reluctant, he agrees to try as he remembers Grams’ encouraging words to be patient, never panic and pull. Grams wise words guide him through a difficult encounter with a bully and help him to forge new friendships. When he and his Frances donate their joint project, Levi comes to truly understand what Grams meant when she called knitting for others heart work.

Five reasons you need to add KNIT {BACK} TOGETHER to your bookshelves:

Grief is handled sensitively in a way that speaks right to the heart of a child who has lost their guiding light and must deal with sadness and difficult emotions.

Knitting is a central feature of this lovely story showing how knitting creates a sense of calm peace and is a way to share kindness and develop connections. Knitted objects become expressions of love, or as Grams would say, works of heart.

The importance of passing on wisdom and love shines through on every page of this special story.

The backmatter is extensive with suggestions for starting a knitting club and a recipe for Gramma Emma’s Monster Cookies -yum!

There is a special section on practical ways to help grieving children by giving them the tools they need when dealing with loss.

KNIT {BACK} TOGETHER is a wonderful story that is meant to be read and shared together and perhaps will encourage readers to take up knitting. ~ Claire Noland, MSLIS, Children’s Book Author, Speaker, Field Trip Planner

Don’t you love that she’s a Field Trip Planner? I think that’s a fun addition to a byline.

Check out the home page for other reviews and to read a brief synopsis.

I’m booking author visits and virtual read-alouds for this Fall now, so do let me know if you’d like me to work with your school family.

Happy September, dear reader.

Young Minds Focus Group

Barbara Gruener

Hello August; can I ask you where June and July went?

I know for me, a lot of hours were spent playing around … and playing with words as I put the finishing edits on the text for my new picture book. Just yesterday, I met with the last of my Young Minds Focus Groups; what a great experience, to read my book aloud and get first-hand feedback from the actual audience that I’m writing this book for.

Their mom posted this lovely reflection after our time together:

I was blessed to work with their older brother, Even, when they first moved to town a decade ago; as a bonus, he was there visiting as I read to the girls to get their thoughts and feelings. I wanted to ask him how it felt to have storytime with Mrs. Gruener after all of these years, but I chickened out. He was in the fifth grade back then and I didn’t want to embarrass either of us.

So the book is coming along beautifully; any day now, the editor will start working on adding fonts and editing any errors or issues. We are hopeful for a September release.

For fun, I’m sharing my favorite illustration from our uber-talented Art Educator and Artist, McKenna Giamfortone. Just look at how brilliant her black-line watercolor pictures are.

Can you feel the warmth on this page, even without the context or the words?

I’ve also used coloring.app to create a coloring sheet to complement our story.

I am so very grateful to the Road To Awesome publishing team and excited about putting this story out into the world and onto the hearts of its potential readers. To create intrigue, I will share that the traits it tackles include loss, grief, friendship, joy and love while it revolves around the healing powers of knitting.

Stay tuned for more details; do reach out if you’ve got a budding author or artist who would like to be a part of my Young Minds Focus Group. It’s a great chance to get inside the heart and mind of an author while possibly providing key changes that could make our story even better.

Appreciating Teachers

Barbara Gruener

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week 2025; how are you celebrating?

My Monday started out at Bales Intermediate, previewing my new book with Mrs. Dixon’s and Mrs. Thurman’s fifth-grade learners. I asked them to be my Focus Group, for feedback and input. Their former Art teacher is our illustrator, so that was a fun connection for them. More details to come; we hope to put it on the market this August.

When I was leaving, Mrs. Conn from across the hall asked if I could read to her class. So on Wednesday, I headed back to Bales to read Birdie & Mipps as we celebrate its one-year book birthday. When I get these amazing opportunities, I’m reminded how much I miss read-aloud time.

I left a copy for the class after our read-aloud; here we are, looking for Mipps’ given name, hidden within the text.

These curious learners had a lot of questions and connections, but my favorite reflection was a compliment: “Your voice is so good that you could actually read books on YouTube.” Is that not the sweetest thing? I thanked her and told her that back in 1979, when I won a State Forensics Storytelling competition, that one of the judges wrote, “You could make money with that voice,” and she agreed. “You could!”

Tomorrow my appreciation continues, when I Zoom to a classroom in PA, to read Mr. Quigley’s Keys. I sent them ’empa-KEYS ahead of time, so it’ll be fun to give those out from deep in the heart of Texas.

In the meantime, I’ve been sending these magnets to some energizing educators to remind them that they matter; this one made its way to Joe Beckman in Minnesota.

Dear Teachers,

YOU are appreciated. YOU are valued. YOU are loved, not only this week, but always, because YOU are showing up and doing the holy work, holding the hearts of our REAL national treasure, the children, our future.

Thank you, thank you.

Barbara

Side By Side

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m thinking about the power of the side-by-side walk ‘n talk, a reflection that started for me on Easter Sunday morning when we took this family walk.

Our granddaughter, Leah, who is not quite 14 months old, is a bit cautious around adults she doesn’t know very well yet, so, as you can imagine, she’s not sure about letting her Uncle Joshua, who lives three hours away, play with her or talk to her, much less hug or hold her.

What I did notice, however, was that on this Sunday morning stroll, she reached for his hand.

My heart melted the moment I saw this, so I asked his wife, Auntie Ariana, to capture this Kodak moment for me because Leah was just a chattering away, almost as if unaware that she didn’t really know her walking companion well enough to let him guide her down the sidewalk.

Or maybe, it’s just not as vulnerable to walk side by side as you talk?

I’m reminded that my Dad and his siblings always used to stay in the car and talk, sometimes for hours, after they’d return from an outing. Is it possible that it’s just easier to share personal issues and deeper insights with someone side by side?

Our poolside chairs sit side by side; could it be that that’s why it’s our favorite gathering place …

when the weather cooperates (and we have new chairs!)?

In our book, Birdie & Mipps, the siblings take a stroll to talk through an issue that Mipps is having, an inadvertent problem he caused and needs solve, a friendship that he wants to save, but they don’t sit down face-to-face. Instead, they’re on a walk ‘n talk alongside one another.

Side by side. So it’s comforting, not uncomfortable as Birdie helps Mipps face what he’s done, understand why it’s a problem (even though quite by accident), and talk through what he can do to mend his misstep.

What are your thoughts on this? Would you rather chat face to face or side by side? Perhaps it matters what you’re chatting about? Sound off in the comments or drop me an email.

In the meantime, drumroll please: Our Focus-group feedback is favorable and our incredible illustrator McKenna is feverishly working up the sketches for my third picture book, due to release later this year. Thank you, dear reader, for sharing in our excitement.

Do keep checking back as details will soon start to unravel. 🧶