Sometimes dreams do come true. I’ve dreamt of writing a specific children’s book for years and am proud (and humbled) to say I’m an official author! My children’s book, “Puddles the Duck Learns to Believe” is now available for purchase (see below for details) and I’m still pinching myself. In a way, I can’t believe I’m even writing this. Wake me up.
I’ve always been a lover of books…real books not audio books…since I was young and discovered “Nancy Drew Mysteries.” My dream room is the library with ladders in “My Fair Lady” or to own a private bookstore where I’d host book clubs and provide a yummy coffee bar. Although those dreams will likely never come true, the dream of writing a book has.
So, what is my beloved book about and how did it come about?
“Puddles the Duck Learns to Believe” is about a sweet duck named Puddles who isn’t like the other ducks and animals. You see, Puddles was born with a left wing and foot that are weaker than her right ones, making some things hard and even impossible for her to do. But despite disappointment and discouragement, Puddles gains courage and learns that not only is she strong, she’s brave and special too.
The book is based on my daughter Kristen’s disability and her beloved stuffed animal she named Puddles. Diagnosed at three-months-old, she learned the value of conquering and overcoming adversity from nearly birth. This has served her well throughout her life as she faced everything from childhood dance classes to middle school mean girls to hauling luggage through many an airport and hotel. As Romans 5:3-4 tells us though, “Our suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character.” Amen.
Like Puddles, Kristen visited many doctors, did PT and OT, and adapted as she thrived in musical theatre classes, hunter-jumping and dressage, and even her high school golf team. I’ve always loved the above Winnie the Pooh quote and I love that Kristen never gave up or in and still doesn’t. She is also very empathetic to those who have any disability. I’m as proud of her as I am of my book.
It all started with a wonderful physical therapist and an amazing neurologist who at diagnosis told us her weakness was “idiopathic.” When we asked what the heck that meant, he graciously said “it’s how God wanted her.” Okay then. We can accept and deal with that. From that point forward and even into today, my message to Kristen was and is simply “Believe in yourself.” This is something Puddles learns to do in my book and something I hope it conveys to readers.
I remember that quote from the fabulous film “Forrest Gump” and how it resonated with me. So many kids today face struggles both physically and emotionally but their struggles can make them stronger and braver. Like Puddles, they know what it’s like to be laughed at, bullied, and just plain different. But if lead and taught by the right people and in the right way, they can overcome all of that just like Puddles does.
My vision of writing this book has been many years in the making. For so long I thought about just doing a simple self-created book online to give to Kristen. It had been on my “to do” list forever. Then something hit me and I thought, “why not do a real book?” Why not?
Basing it on a duck named Puddles was the easy part. When our daughter was born, a friend of my mother-in-law in Buffalo, New York sent our daughter a stuffed Jemima Puddle-Duck from the Beatrix Potter series as a little gift. She probably went into a store, saw a stuffed animal, and mailed it away never thinking it would become our daughter’s favorite thing. Kristen named her duck Puddles and Puddles went everywhere with her. One time we lost her in a hotel and panicked until management found Puddles safe and sound. Puddles went to college with her and studied abroad in Spain with her. Mom here has had to mend Puddles many times and today the once fluffy stuffed animal is literally hanging on by a thread and Kristen has put her away for safe keeping.
Meanwhile I put doing the book on my “26 for 26” list of goals for 2026 and vowed to get it done this year. I researched publishers, which was challenging to say the least. Somehow, I came upon Westbow Press and it felt like a match made in heaven. I had written the copy sometime back so now it was time to clean it up a bit and find an illustrator. Do I pay to have the publisher do so? Do I find a “for hire” artist? Do I know someone who might be interested?
After much thought and research, enter the talented Finnegan Hein. Finn, as I call him, is the son of a dear friend of mine who I taught preschool with many years ago. He’d created a clever and colorful comic strip called “Quip of the Iceberg” that I always enjoyed reading and I remembered I really liked his artwork for it. I contacted my friend and then Finn, and he was on board. I am forever grateful to him.
And now, all these months and even years later, here I am, a published author. No, it’s not a novel but rather a book geared for 3–8-year-olds but a book it is and it’s a book that this former preschool teacher who loved reading to her little three-year-olds hopes it finds its way into preschools everywhere.
Those preschoolers and all of our precious little ones need to know they are all special just as they are and they don’t have to be perfect. No one is perfect and anyone who claims to be is either lying or in denial. Perfection is overrated and unachievable. But, it’s amazing that like Puddles, if you believe in yourself, you can achieve so much. Learn to believe!
“Puddles the Duck Learns to Believe” is available online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other sites as well as at my publisher’s bookstore: www.westbowpress.com/en/bookstore. Just search for the title or my name and you should be good to go. To anyone who orders it, thank you from the bottom of my author heart.
Beyond Words 