Tag: gratitude

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.

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.

With Or Without Brackets

Barbara Gruener

With or without brackets, it’s still the same, heartfelt story . . .

And we have an updated cover!

. . . with magnets and stickers of a favorite page ready to go.

We were hoping to have copies available for purchase by now, but we’ve encountered a few obstacles, one of which seems to be a technical glitch with the brackets around the word Back.

Interestingly enough, I was waffling about using them just prior to publication. When I met with Cecily (7th grade) and Daisy (4th grade), they had differing takes on the brackets. Daisy didn’t understand their purpose so she didn’t think they needed to be there. Cecily, on the other hand, thought it was cool to use the brackets to give the story two different titles – Knit Together and Knit Back Together – probably because of her age and maturity as a writer and a reader.

When I first came up with the story’s title, I was thinking like Cecily, that it’d be a fun talking point with our upper elementary readers. But, as an author, I’m also careful to not be married to my words, because hurdles happen. And not always things that we can anticipate

Like the brackets in a font that doesn’t seem readable to an isbn-number technology.

With or without brackets in the title, our story is back on track for publication this month.

Now, I just need to order some new cover-image stickers from Cecily and Daisy.

Oh, and some of those tasty Bookies that I bought for McKenna and me!

Thank you for your warm wishes and your patience, dear reader.

First-Look Focus Friends

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m excited and grateful to share some details about my return visit to Howard Elementary, where I got to share a draft of our new picture book and ask for their feedback. Before the read aloud, I gave each of their teachers a limited-edition Kindness Blooms t-shirt design I created for Avery, our seed-money scholar.

The students listened intently as I shared with them all about how Mipps planted the seeds for this scholarship while he was still with us.

Then I got to share my new book with them.

Notice my dad in the front right, a bonus to have him there with me. My husband also came along, to support me and take the pictures. Here we are, on one of my favorite pages. The sketches are still in draft form, but we’re excited to be on track to go to press in late August.

After the read-aloud, we posed for these pictures.

I left them each with a cardinal sticker and a challenge, to color these slippers and offer me their feedback; today I had the pleasure of receiving their creations and thoughtful reflections.

Here now, the most creative three:

Congrats to Deb, Alaina and Abby for using their time and talents to win three author-signed copies of Knit {Back} Together for their incredible teaching team.

Their notes offered so much fantastic feedback, which I’ll be using to make a few updates, for sure. But my favorite has to be from Abby, who wrote, please, please, please, PLEASE come to Lineville next year (please).

How adorable and affirming is that, to get invited to her new school. Sigh.

I am grateful for every energizing interaction during my visits; please let me know if you’d like to schedule a school visit for the upcoming school year.

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. 🧶