Tag: grief

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?

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.