I find inspiration for my books a lot of ways: from the silly things that make my kids laugh, to my husband pushing me to follow my passions; from the teachers at school providing new experiences for my children, to the special family and friends in our lives. Each one adds up to a new book idea and my latest book, “Fiona the Snail Goes to Kindergarten,” gives a shout out to all of them!

Fiona the Snail

So who is Fiona and why is she a snail? Fiona is my five-year-old daughter who is heading to Kindergarten in the fall. She is creative, funny, and adorable. One of our favorite things to do as a family is go on walks and “treasure hunt” and finding snails is part of that!

The snail is a character designed for one of my first books, “Let's Count Bugs!: A Counting, Coloring and Drawing Book for Kids,” which is a counting and color recognition book focused on toddler learning skills. Now that my Fiona has grown up so has the snail, and she is ready for kindergarten!

Ready for Kindergarten

“Fiona the Snail Goes to Kindergarten” is created to take you and your child through the lessons and excitement of being an independent and creative “big kid” ready for the next adventure! It focuses on the basic communication and cooperative play skills taught in preschool every day in preparation for Kindergarten.

In the book you’ll go through lessons like recognizing and sharing feelings, learning how to collaborate with friends, basic writing and reading skills, and of course, creating and coloring their favorite things!

Interactive Style

The entire book is interactive, which means that your child should be writing and coloring in the book. Breaking the rules! My kids love drawing in books, so these books are created to give them the freedom to interact and help be a part of completing the book. I find that my kids love seeing and sharing their drawings as part of the finished book, and is more interesting for them than a basic coloring book.

Social & Emotional Learning

As I’ve read, Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) is about helping your children develop a range of skills they need for school and life. And teachers use these skills every day in the classroom. So I built the book around some of the guiding principles of SEL and 'The Responsive Classroom' approach, which believe that in order to be successful in and out of school, children need to learn a set of social and emotional competencies (cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy, and self-control), and a set of academic competencies (academic mindset, perseverance, learning strategies, and academic behaviors).

Share the Love

I hope you and your children enjoy the book! Please share your pictures and reviews on Amazon or on my other social channels so I can see their happy faces. It is so special to me and I love hearing the feedback. I can’t wait to see what’s next in our growing up adventure!