Tag: picture books

Heart Maps

Barbara Gruener

To celebrate our students going back to school, I decided to make a heart map.

I think it’s the perfect complement for a Birdie & Mipps read-aloud, don’t you?

I also think that this card that was sent to me by our first Seed-Money Scholarship recipient is such a thoughtful selection for me. Doesn’t it just overflow your emotional reserve when something so personal is picked out for you? I mean, a Birdie card? For real??

My heart is so happy, so today I’m encouraging you to create your own name’s Heart Map while you tune in to my most-recent podcast episode, a virtual-porch reflection on gratitude with my friend, author Barbara Bray …

… featuring one of my favorite #gratitude quotes from Liz Murray.

Happy new (school) year, dear reader.

Seed Money

Barbara Gruener

It’s no secret that I think about my little brother Mipps a lot, but August finds me especially melancholy because it marks the anniversary of the saddest day of our lives, the day he died.

Today, I’m thinking back 13 years, to a conversation I had with him at our pool when he came for a visit. I blogged the entire account back in 2011 {here}. Here’s a portion of the letter that came in the mail a few weeks later.

Seed money. Hmmmm. I’d not heard that term before, but I liked the idea behind it, to help put some skin in the game, if you will. Jacob did end up matching his FUNcle’s funds and ended up having a great time in Germany.

So I’ve decided that I’m starting a Seed-Money Scholarship with the proceeds from our book. In fact, I’ve already chosen our first recipient, an incoming senior in high school whose passion is infectious, whose work ethic is inspiring, and who shows up positively vivacious, wherever she goes. Simply put, she reminds me of Mipps.

So here’s how it’s going to work. I sent the first installment to her via Venmo today. When she works to earn a matching amount, I will send her the next installment. It’s that easy! If book sales don’t keep up, no worries; she’ll still receive her full scholarship.

I cannot wait to see the fruits of our investment in this compassionate, driven world-changer.

Oh, and, for fun as I work to keep sadness at bay, I recorded a read-aloud of the book, so you, dear reader, could hear it aloud how I heard it in my head when I was writing it.

Happy reading!

Take The Shot

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m grateful for the opportunity to sign all of these books for the school family that my intern from 2014 is joining.

That’s right, dear reader; she earned her degree in school counseling a decade ago, when my first book came out, and she has persisted for ten years through one rejection after another, continuing to touch lives as a classroom teacher with passion and verve until the right counseling position opened up for her.

P is for Perseverance, one of the chapters in What’s Under Your Cape?, so as a gift, to celebrate my intern and friend, I signed a copy for each one of her new faculty and staff.

To add an element of engagement and fun, I signed them in groups of five with matching inscriptions, so that she can give them out in a faculty meeting and challenge them to form a five-some by finding the people with the same inscription OR she can randomly put them in the staff boxes with the challenge to find their group among their peers (without using email) for a mini-poster prize.

I even found one first-printing copy in my stash and told her that I’d do an author visit for the staff member who figures out that they have that book. It gave me so much joy to meet her at Starbucks yesterday and show her how proud I am of her! Talk about stick-to-it-tiveness! Michael Jordan once said that he missed 100% of the shots that he didn’t take; Krystle took a lot of shots and missed, but chatting with her yesterday was like oxygen because she knows that this school was worth all of the blocked shots along the way as well as the wait to find her family.

Congrats, Krystle; I’m so very proud of you.

I’m also thinking about a shot as in a photograph today as I think back through the years to all of the times that I’ve played paparazzi. I’ve been intrigued by cameras and photography since I got my first camera back in the 6th grade from collecting Bazooka bubble gum comics. No joke. Before I got my Bazooka treasure, my mom used one of those boxy cameras to capture precious moments like this one from winter of 1971, with this calf named Betsy.

Some fifty-plus years later, I still love these little babies.

As a young teacher, I used a film camera to take pictures of my students; when my mom came to visit in 1989, she took the camera and snapped this shot of my classroom and me.

During my days as a school counselor, I carried a digital camera and then ultimately my iPhone, to capture Character Cam moments.

I’m so grateful for every single shot I took and had taken, because I’m so aware that you never know when it’ll be your last chance at that particular shot. Here’s a cherished moment from our siblings reunion weekend, just weeks before Mipps died. Am I ever glad we took that shot!

When I was a teenager, we got this cool shot, on the family farm in front of a silo that’s no longer there. It was the summer of 1978 and I’d been away in Chicago serving as a nanny, so my little brothers were happy to have their sister back home. You know what’s kind of weird, though? Mipps is wearing the number 53, which is exactly how many years we’d have him in our family before God called him home. Again, I’m so grateful for this photo memory.

In fact, rarely have I ever said, “Gosh, why did I take that shot?”

So today I challenge you to stay in the moment and be where your feet are, even as you freeze frame that moment in time, which so quickly becomes the shot that helps you keep those memories alive even after that season has come and gone.

And if ever it feels like you’ll never get your shot, be like Krystle and keep on shooting!

My Little Mippers

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m excited about Mr. Quigley’s Keys making its way to Nicaragua; here’s a picture of my Aunt Karen reading the Spanish version to these engaged and eager learners. My little Mippers would absolutely LOVE this, were he here to experience the magic.

It’s bringing up memories of Mipps and the myriad Nicaragua visits he made over the years, to build homes and help better their lives. He wrote about those experiences {here}.

Mark (Mipps) grew up the last of five children to a farming family in Wayside, WI. I was seven when he arrived on the scene to complete and forever change the face of our family. He was a doll baby and my sister, Debra, and I had fun helping mom and dad raise him. Here we are in 1972 or so, the year that Dad won Outstanding Young Farmer for our state, in a professional shot in a frame dad handcrafted from old barn wood.

About that time, a team from PBS reached out to see if we would let them film a segment for the increasingly popular television show, Wisconsin Our Home. Dad agreed and our adorable little Mippers stole the show; isn’t he precious?

Like me, Mipps took pride in showing his cattle at the Brown County Fair. Aren’t those white show pants such a fresh and polished look? He loved being around animals, big and small.

It was kind of a running joke in Nicaragua that he didn’t really go there to build houses so much as to talk with the people and play with the puppies, the kittens and the kids.

His absence has left a huge hole in our hearts; what a gift to be able to share tidbits from time to time from the legacy of connection and love that he left in and for us.

Oh, and I’m pretty excited to share that his home-building friends from the volunteer squad are starting an English program down in Nicaragua in Mark’s name in the very near future. Sigh.

“This Treasured Tribute”

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m feeing grateful and honored by this heartfelt feedback from a passionate author, educator, and friend up in Canada whom I adore and admire so much.

Here’s a peek at the resource pages she’s referencing.

Not only did Mrs. Mac post these kind words of affirmation on Facebook, but her beautiful 4th-grade daughter also served on our First-Look Focus Team.

Here’s what Sadie had to say about our passion project: This book helped me to see that we all have precious names that deserve to be honoured and that it is ok to tell someone if you don’t want to be called by a nickname even though it is one your family might use. I like when my family calls me Sadie Pie but not when people that don’t know me do, just like Mipps.

Perfection! What are you grateful for today?

Enriching Birdie & Mipps

Barbara Gruener

Mom’s first question when she met her great granddaughter was “What’s her name?“

Her name is Leah Odette, but for now, she’s also affectionately known by the nicknames Nugget, Nuggs, Sweet Pea, Cutie Pie, Leah Bean and Leah Bear. It’s not likely that those will stick as she ages and it is likely that she’ll have an opinion about which nicknames, if any, she’d like for us to use, a topic that Birdie & Mipps tackles by talking our readers through self-advocacy, kindness and respect.

Sesame Street also has a few clips that address the importance of names {The Name Song, Your Name Is Very Important, and Our Names Are Special} that you can share before or after your Birdie & Mipps read-aloud, to enrich your discussion.

Use these clips to cultivate self-awareness and caring connections as your learners share how their parents/caregivers chose their names, what their nickname (if they have one) is, and what name, if any, they really like or wish they had. Invite them to create a bumper sticker, T-shirt logo, or PSA showcasing their name and what it symbolizes to them and what they want it to stand for or mean to the world.

Then compare and contrast these titles around this timeless topic.

For other ideas, check out the enrichment pages in the back of our book.

Be creative and enJOY the synergy as you step into and get acquainted with one another’s stories.

Together Is My Favorite Place

Barbara Gruener

After a long day of travel yesterday, I’m back home and reflecting on an incredible journey home. First up, a visit to my mom, to read Birdie & Mipps to her. Since she’s battling dementia, I wasn’t sure how it would go and as I reflect, I deeply felt the depth and width of her words: I don’t know why but this is making me feel really sad.

I explained to her that it was really sad, that Mipps is her little boy, and that he’d died a few years ago, but that it was also happy because a part of his story is now in our book, and that’s when she said, “Well, I’d really like to have a book like this.” Sigh.

And in that moment, I realized how important it was to always carry an extra copy.

Next up, off to visit my Aunt Elaine, who just turned 91. Since our youngest son, Joshua, and his wife, Ariana, were with us, I asked them to read the book aloud in the roles of Birdie & Mipps.

Here’s a snippet of them reading one of my favorite pages. What’s your favorite page?

Then, my mom got to meet her great granddaughter, a precious moment indeed.

What joy fills my heart to be together in this four-generation picture.

And finally, the reason for our trek home: To gather for Tanner and Callie’s big day. So blessed to stand with Tanner’s other two Godmothers in this shot.

Mipps was represented at the memorial table; Tanner wrote such a beautiful tribute.

In our family picture, Jacob is wearing Mipps’ jacket and one of his ties; Joshua is sporting one of his ties as well. Our Dad made this beautiful cross centerpiece for the wedding ceremony.

Together truly is my favorite place to be.

Mom’s Choice Gold Award

Barbara Gruener

So yesterday, in the midst of hurricane Beryl’s fierce and frightening fury on our town, this great news popped into my inbox …

… that Birdie & Mipps has earned a Mom’s Choice Gold Award.

We are SO very grateful to the committee of decision-makers at MCA for honoring us with this distinction. Happy July, dear reader; thank you for celebrating this milestone marker with us!

JOY in July

Barbara Gruener

Happy July, dear reader.

As I turn another calendar page, I’m thinking about joy, what inspires it in me, and how I work with intention to choose it and hold on to it. So I sat down and scripted a month’s worth of ideas to share. Download it here if you’d like to print a physical copy. Which ones speak to you? Which ones would you be willing to try?

I’m also reflecting a lot about my brother Mipps now that our book is out. I’ve saved a few of his final texts to me; here’s one from about 10 days before he died. Let me give you some context; Mr. Quigley’s Keys had just come out in June and Mipps wanted to help me market the book. He had just given away his last copy, so he texted to ask me if I could get him a few more. I offered to send ten and he replied, “Or 20!” He always found a way to make me giggle.

We were negotiating cost and postage; it’s his last sentence that gives me chills.

We are both doing well for a few farm kids. One of the very last texts I’d ever get from him. In fact, when I flew to his place the day I’d found out he’d suffered a fatal heart attack, I found the books I’d sent just days earlier, one book already given away, and 19 still boxed up, ready to go. He was so generous like that, helping spread the word about Mr. Quigley’s Keys by giving copies to friends of his with young children.

He told me that “it is too good not to share.” Always my biggest fan, that little brother.

And now that those two farm kids star in my new book, Birdie & Mipps, I can only imagine what he’d have to say. If only I could text him one more time, to tell him about the book. I’d thank him for being a jolt of joy for me when life started to overwhelm. I’d listen to his latest break-up story and I’d hang on every word. And I’d tell him that he is loved by so many people. Would he even believe that we stood in that receiving line at his funeral for five hours hugging family and friends and listening to how he was their best friend and what he’d done that touched their hearts and changed their lives for good.

Mipps, you brought so much JOY into our world.

If only I could hear your joyful laugh one more time.

And see that signature smile. I miss you and I love you, kid.

A Horse’s Gentle Tickle

Barbara Gruener

Nicknames can come from anywhere, but how did the word “nip” become Nippers, then Mippers, then Mipps? In the story, Mipps asks Birdie if she knows how he got his nickname.

Meet the real-life Scooter, my pride and joy, whom my sixth-grade self found malnourished and super skinny at a farm about 25 minutes down the road. I talked my Dad into letting me invest in her, a gorgeous Arabian Pinto mix, and I nurtured her back to health on my family farm in the early 1970’s. We went on to breed her twice; her foals Menty and Misty were absolutely gorgeous miracle babies. I love how our artist perfectly portrays this beautiful mare.

The cool part about realistic fiction is that a large part of it is true; this sneak peek into the real part of our story, Birdie & Mipps, and how my little brother, Mark, came by the nickname Mippers, then Mipps, comes from treasured memories that have lasted a lifetime.

I’m so very grateful for the affirming feedback that the book is receiving; check out this five-star review from passionate educator Mrs. Monty in Florida, as seen on Amazon:

Birdie & Mipps is not only a compelling story but also a fantastic resource for classrooms.

I’m so grateful that our story is resonating with educators like Barbie; it’s my hope that it’ll be a springboard for many cool conversations about the importance of names and the respectful use of nicknames and that it’ll serve as a reminder that how we treat each other matters.