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Positive Outlook and Courage
Sophie Moon and the Honeybees follows a curious young girl through four seasons of beekeeping with her grandfather as lessons from the hive help her navigate friendship, loss, courage, consequences, and change. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration for the story was based on my own experience as a beekeeper. I have been keeping bees since 2016, and each season brings its own challenges. Spring is very busy; the natural world is waking up after a long, cold winter. A perfect time to start something new. Just like Sophie did in deciding to make a friend and be brave enough to speak up and give a presentation at school. This is the season when the bees start building up their hive to the peak of Summer. This season is hot; the hives are filled with honey and life. Sophie is the happiest with her new best friend Catalina and her success at school. Then, Fall arrives, bringing a big change in the natural world and Sophie’s life. She loses her friend, gets punished by her Grandpa, but she also gains confidence in her own abilities. Because of all the things she achieved in Spring, Summer, and Fall, Sophie goes through a soft arc of character development that gets much stronger in book two. Also, during winter, my beehives are very quiet. The bees stay inside, keeping warm, trying to outlast the winter months. This is the time of reflection and hard truths. Sometimes, some hives don’t make it through the cold months. Sophie spends time outside in the cold snow and realises that her Grandpa will always be her friend and a stout supporter. This means a lot for a shy, sweet girl who was afraid to speak up during class last spring. So, I guess it felt right to use the changing of the four seasons in a year to follow Sophie’s development. I think even we adults often measure achievements in terms of months when we look back at changes in our lives.
Sophie often connects what she learns about bees to friendship, belonging, and loss. How did you develop those parallels between the hive and her personal life?
When Sophie first heard about her Grandpa’s new hobby of beekeeping, she was afraid. She asked, “The stinging kind?” She is so right that starting something new in life may cause a lot of emotional pain, stress, and fear. A lot of people are afraid of bees. I don’t like to get stung, but I do every year, many times. It hurts. Rejections hurt; not knowing how to do something can be stressful; receiving negative feedback can be discouraging, and so watching Grandpa work with the bees, and him allowing the fact that “Yes, they can sting,” lets Sophie know that it is okay to be hurt sometimes. Children have to experience difficulties in a safe way to become confident and face hardships with a positive outlook and courage. This lesson perhaps comes out too strong in book two, but I think that is how children are. They watch the world, their parents, teachers, grandparents, and take away the best with proper guidance.
Grandpa teaches Sophie largely through questions, demonstrations, and natural consequences. Was there a particular person or relationship that inspired his character?
His character is inspired by my own beliefs and experiences. He is based on a mixture of people I have known and know. But once, I received a negative review regarding Grandpa’s character. It said that he was very flat, colourless, with no character arc at all. I wish I could have debated that opinion. I think Grandpa is what every child needs. He is a loving, steadfast, strong, patient, and unchanging family member. His house never changes; he is always present; he bakes cakes, tries new things, and encourages through unconditional love. He is a wall that Sophie can lean on. No child has ever grown up happily around unreliable adults. His unchanging state is what gives Sophie room to grow and become a confident girl.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I have just published the second book in the Sophie Moon series, and right now I am working on two books. One is a spin-off for Sophie Moon, and the other is based in the Arctic, steeped in the Aurora lights, with creatures fighting for survival.
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Finding Bravery in a hive.
A young girl overcomes her fears with the help of her grandfather and his honeybees.
It is spring time and nine years old Sophie Moon is excited about spending time with her grandfather in his log cabin.
He has a surprise for her. A package of honeybees is waiting to be installed in a new hive. Although it isn’t the puppy Sophie hoped for; she is curious about the world of beekeeping.
During the passing seasons, the honeybees become the answer to many of her troubles and fears.
“‘Why don’t we suit up and whisper to the bees. They’ll hear you and mayhap give you advice,’ Grandpa said smiling.”
Supported by her loving grandfather and seeking solace by visiting the beehives in each season, Sophie’s fears and relationships rise and fall throughout the school year.
A charming and educational story about personal growth tied closely to the life of honeybees away from the digital world.
The Trouble With Hector
The Trouble with Hector, by Bonnie Denmark, is a playful children’s book about a boy who spends his carefully saved $3.98 on a lizard who has already been returned to the pet shop nineteen times. Hector quickly proves to be affectionate, unusual, and a little combustible. When he’s worried, hungry, or sad, his breath heats up until sparks and flames start flying, which turns ordinary moments at home and school into escalating comic disasters. The story moves at a lively pace, and Denmark’s rhyming text gives it the kind of bounce that should work especially well when read aloud.
What gives the story some emotional weight is the boy’s loyalty to Hector. He doesn’t give up on his pet when things get difficult. Instead, he tries meditation and yoga with him, comforts him after he’s sent out of the classroom, sneaks him food, and eventually builds him a cozy treehouse when Hector can’t stay indoors anymore. That relationship keeps the book warm even while the jokes get bigger and smokier. There’s also a nice childlike logic to the whole setup: of course a bargain-bin mystery lizard might breathe fire, and of course the kid who bought him would still think he was worth every cent.
Mina Sešek’s illustrations are a major part of the picture book’s personality. Hector’s bulging eyes, curled tail, purplish-and-green markings, and increasingly sooty face make him expressive even before the text tells us what he’s feeling. The images also carry plenty of visual humor, from the pet-shop sign warning customers to “BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK” to the burned curtain, smoking seesaw, and school-lunch chaos. The soft, hand-drawn look and generous use of pinks, greens, oranges, and muted pastels give the book a friendly visual warmth that keeps Hector’s fire-breathing from ever feeling threatening. I especially like how the later treehouse scenes open up the setting and give the story a cozy, almost storybook-hideaway feeling.
The ending gives Hector’s fiery problem an unexpectedly sweet solution when he meets a girl lizard and immediately settles down. From there, the book closes on an affectionate joke: Hector may be calm now, but he’s still occasionally useful for roasting marshmallows. It’s a charming finish that fits the book’s lighthearted tone and brings the story back to the bond between the boy and his very strange pet. The Trouble with Hector is an energetic and funny picture book with a memorable creature at its center, a warm sense of friendship, and illustrations that give kids plenty to notice beyond the words.
Pages: 32 | ASIN : B0GSSLG3HF
Sophie Moon and the Honeybees
Sophie Moon and the Honeybees is a warm, gently educational children’s book built around Sophie’s visits with her grandfather through spring, summer, fall, and winter. Each season brings another stage in Grandpa’s beekeeping and another small challenge for Sophie, so the book develops on two tracks at once. Readers learn how a hive works, what queens and workers do, how honey is harvested, what bees do in winter, and even why they sometimes gather outside a hive. At the same time, Sophie is learning how to speak in front of her class, make and lose a friend, respect rules, and keep trying when she feels uncertain. The seasonal structure gives the story a pleasing rhythm, while Sophie’s recurring “Doodle Notes” make the bee facts feel like discoveries she’s collecting.
The relationship between Sophie and Grandpa is the heart of the children’s book. Their time together has a lived-in coziness to it, with tea, honey, fires, shopping trips, painting hive boxes, snowy walks, and Grandpa’s familiar scent of coffee, Old Spice, grass, smoke, or sunshine changing slightly with the seasons. Sophie also feels like a child with an actual inner life. She worries that she won’t be good enough during school presentations, wonders whether other children will accept her, breaks a rule even though she knows better, and struggles when Catalina moves away without saying goodbye. The bee colony often becomes a way for Sophie to think through those feelings. The queen’s need to be accepted connects naturally with Sophie’s decision to befriend Catalina, while the idea that bees live and work together helps her make sense of friendship, separation, and loneliness.
There’s also more emotional weight here than the cheerful beekeeping premise might suggest. Catalina’s family troubles, Sophie’s memories of her father’s death, her fear of public speaking, and the consequences of sneaking out at night give the story real stakes. I especially liked that Grandpa usually teaches by asking questions, demonstrating something, or letting Sophie arrive at an answer herself. When she breaks her promise and secretly visits the hives at night, he follows through on the rules and sends her home early, yet their relationship remains loving. Later, Sophie understands those rules as part of caring for one another. That combination of affection, consequences, curiosity, and second chances gives the book a sturdy emotional center.
The illustrations use soft, colorful, storybook-style imagery to make Sophie, Grandpa, Catalina, the cabin, and the hives feel immediately approachable. Some of the strongest pictures are also closely tied to memorable moments, such as Sophie and Grandpa examining the queen, Sophie and Catalina lying among white flowers, the girls sneaking toward the hives under a huge moon, and Sophie and Grandpa building a snow bee. The bright painted hives and warm countryside scenes reinforce Sophie’s love of color and drawing, while the winter images shift into quieter whites and blues without losing that sense of warmth. Together, the illustrations and the hands-on bee facts make Sophie Moon and the Honeybees feel like a children’s book meant to spark curiosity as much as tell a story, with friendship, family, art, and the natural world all buzzing around the same hive.
Pages: 54 | ASIN: B0GXWQGZ26
My (2D Shape) Family
My 2D Shape Family, by Lisa M. Weckbacher, turns an introductory geometry lesson into a friendly family gathering. Circle serves as the narrator, welcoming readers and introducing relatives that range from Oval and Triangle to less familiar figures such as Heptagon, Nonagon, and Decagon. The family idea gives this children’s book a warm structure while reinforcing its central message: shapes can share important qualities and still look quite different from one another.
The book builds understanding through familiar objects, thoughtful comparisons, and plenty of direct questions. Children identify shapes in a button, pizza slice, checkerboard, soccer ball, and honeycomb before meeting the corresponding character. They’re also invited to trace Circle, measure width, count sides, and consider why some shapes look different when turned or tilted. These prompts make the picture book especially well suited to reading aloud, since an adult can pause for predictions, counting, and conversation.
Katrina Snyder’s illustrations give each shape its own lively personality. The characters have expressive faces, thin arms and legs, and little visual details that help distinguish them without distracting from their geometry. Bright colors, generous white space, and clearly drawn everyday objects keep the pages easy to follow. The illustrations are particularly effective when shapes are rotated, stretched, or placed beside similar family members, allowing readers to see the differences the text is describing.
There’s an impressive amount of material here, from the meaning of two-dimensional to length, width, curves, sides, points, and orientation. Even the nine-sided and ten-sided shapes receive memorable introductions, giving children vocabulary they may not encounter in many early shape books. The closing reference pages gather the whole family in one place, making it easy to review what readers have learned. With its chatty narrator and hands-on questions, My 2D Shape Family offers a playful, substantial introduction to recognizing and comparing geometric shapes.
Pages: 38 | ASIN : B0H9VR4LBM
One Inch at a Time
One Inch at a Time, by Alyssa Herrera, is a tender children’s book about developmental progress, disability, and the many ways children communicate, move, and grow. Built around the idea of “inchstones,” it treats a wiggle, blink, sign, step, or brave attempt as an occasion worth noticing. The opening contrast between a caped child taking off and a baby taking their time quickly establishes the book’s generous outlook: each child follows an individual path, and each bit of progress carries meaning.
Herrera’s short, rhyming lines make this picture book easy to share aloud. The repeated “some kids” phrasing creates a reassuring rhythm while introducing speech, gestures, communication aids, mobility equipment, and physical support in language young readers can understand. Phrases such as “almosts,” “not yets,” and “nearlys” give families an encouraging vocabulary for the long stretches between milestones. The text gradually expands from individual achievements to a wider invitation for patience, kindness, and inclusion.
Mayssa Kennouche’s bright, softly textured illustrations carry much of the emotional storytelling. Children appear using wheelchairs, braces, orthotics, medical tubing, signs, sounds, and other forms of communication, surrounded by attentive families, classmates, teachers, and friends. Mobility aids and medical equipment are presented as familiar parts of everyday life. Spacious character vignettes focus attention on small actions, while fuller scenes at the playground, pool, track, classroom, and birthday table show the joy of belonging to a community. The varied faces, bodies, cultures, and abilities give the book’s message real visual substance.
One Inch at a Time offers a cheerful and practical way to talk with children about growth that happens at different speeds and in different forms. Its final pages bring everyone together in celebration, then close with a personal note from the parents of Mack and Mila, grounding the idea of inchstones in lived family experience. Parents, teachers, therapists, and caregivers will find plenty here to begin conversations, but children receive the most important message directly: their efforts matter, their way of growing belongs, and even the tiniest win deserves a cheer.
“why do my teeth fall out?”
Lily and the Tooth Fairy follows a little girl who loses her first tooth at the beach, and a beloved family story sends her dreaming into fairyland and wondering what surprises the tooth fairy might leave behind. Why did you choose to begin Lily’s adventure with a family beach day?
Children most often ask, “why do my teeth fall out?” I can’t answer in one or two ways:
“To make room for the adult teeth to accommodate the expansion of the jaw bone.”
or use kid-friendly terminology
“You’ll get bigger teeth as you get bigger, in order to eat bigger meals.”
Papa shares a tooth fairy story that was told to him when he was young. What role do you think family traditions and storytelling can play in helping children understand new experiences?
Yes. More dental milestones are in the works. But because all children experience milestones, I will be introducing a new character by the name of Maya, in my next book, “Teeth like me.”
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When Lily and Papa return home from their outing, Papa shares a tooth fairy tale with Lily that was once told to him when he was a boy. That night, she dreams of being a fairy who lives in fairyland, making gold coins. The dream is so real in makes her wonder: Do fairies truly have magical powers? Will she find something special in place of her tooth when she wakes from her slumber?
