Carmel Goes to School follows a golden doodle therapy dog who on a visit to a school helps children learn about kindness and uniqueness. What was the inspiration for your story?

In a nutshell, my experiences as a parent of a neurodivergent child and my novel concept of the therapy dog as the teacher assistant inspired me. When my daughter was younger, she used to be very eager to share her interests with her peers. However, her peers were not always interested in listening to too many details of those interests. This is a common behavior that many autistic children display. They do not realize that this excessive talk can impact their interactions. I always wondered about how we can help children who are neurodivergent and who simply cannot instantly stop their certain behaviors. As I innovate in the area of including therapy dogs in educational settings, I also noticed that my therapy dog becomes a teacher assistant. We explain what this concept means on my social media and in my book “Children and therapy dog teams: Innovative collaborations to make a difference for children,” written with an amazing teacher, Lucinda Ormiston. I decided to include my therapy dog as a book character who comes to school and interacts with children to teach them about the brilliance of children whose behavior might not be considered as a norm.

The art in this book is fantastic. What was the art collaboration process like with illustrator Halina Kiskis?

My sister illustrated the book. This is her first illustrated book. She is a fine arts artist who works with oils and other techniques. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. Some time ago, she drew my dog for a post on instagram and I saw the amazing potential she has in drawing animals, not just people. When my book idea was born, I naturally thought of asking her to illustrate my book. I thought she would do an amazing job and that this opportunity could also help her in adding illustrating to her artistic experiences. She loved the idea and loved my story. The rest of the process was quite easy, actually. My sister created sketches for all illustrations and showed them to me for feedback. I liked all her ideas right away. She knew exactly how to illustrate every section of the text and I loved all her creative ideas. She was delighted to do it and put a lot of creative effort into it. I know it sounds almost impossible to have such a smooth process but that’s what exactly happened. She is an amazing illustrator. She just needed to start.

What were some educational aspects that were important for you to include in this children’s book?

There were two important aspects. First, I wanted to help all main-stream children gain some useful strategies that would allow them to see ways in which they can benefit from interacting with children who might appear different. Autistic children are often asked to stop certain behaviors, while the rest of the population is not taught strategies of how to handle neurodivergent minds in a way that can benefit everyone. It is not always possible for such a child to simply stop a behavior that is an integral part of this child’s personality and condition. While it is important to know that we need to celebrate differences, I think it is crucial to understand why it is important to celebrate them and know exactly how. I also wanted to showcase the power of including therapy animals in educational settings. As I volunteer as a therapy dog handler, I see that therapy animals have the potential to improve the classroom community. Therapy animals can teach children many social and emotional skills because children love to learn from therapy animals who come to visit them. Such learning is different than learning from teachers.

Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out and what can your fans expect in the next story?

Yes, this is the first book in the series. I am not sure yet as far as when the next one will come out but potentially at the beginning of 2025.

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