Cognizance: But You Can Call Me Toggy follows a gentle stuffed elephant whose growing awareness of the emotions around him helps young readers discover that empathy, kindness, and paying attention can be superpowers of their own. What was the inspiration for your story?

The inspiration for Cognizance: But You Can Call Me Toggy came from a simple belief: awareness is something we all have, but something we can also lose touch with.

The world around us can be noisy. From an early age, we are surrounded by expectations, opinions, influences, and ideas about how we should think, feel, and live. Over time, that noise can make it harder to distinguish what we genuinely feel and value from what we have simply absorbed from the world around us.

We wanted to create a story that encourages children, and really readers of any age, to slow down, become curious about what is happening within them, and reconnect with their own awareness.

That is why Toggy’s gift is not strength, speed, or something traditionally heroic. His gift is awareness. He notices what is happening within himself and what others might overlook. Through that awareness, he begins to understand empathy, connection, and the quiet power of simply being present.

At the heart of the story is an invitation to pause, notice, and listen inward. Because the more aware we become of ourselves, the more authentically we can move through the world and connect with those around us.

How did you approach creating characters that could help children recognize different emotions without making those lessons feel instructional?

We never wanted Toggy to tell children what they should feel. In many ways, that would go against the heart of the story. Children already have an incredible capacity to notice, feel, and sense the world around them. Our intention was to create characters and moments that encourage them to trust and explore that natural awareness.

Rather than labeling every emotion or explaining what it means, we allow Toggy to experience it. He notices a change in someone, becomes curious, pays attention, and responds with presence rather than judgment.

Snuggs is one of our favorite examples. Toggy senses that something is different about him, but he doesn’t try to fix his sadness or tell him how he should feel. He simply moves closer and lets him know, “I see you.” That moment reflects something we deeply believe: sometimes being seen and acknowledged is more powerful than being given an answer.

We wanted children to discover these ideas alongside Toggy rather than receive them as instructions. Toggy isn’t there to give them the answer. The characters create an invitation to notice, ask questions, and develop their own understanding of what they and others may be feeling.

What kinds of conversations or activities would you like families and classrooms to explore after reading the book, and how do you hope Toggy might help children become more comfortable talking about their emotions?

We would love for Toggy to create moments of pause and curiosity between children, families, and classrooms.

Something as simple as asking, “How do I actually feel right now?” can be powerful. Not how I think I should feel, or how someone else expects me to feel, but what is genuinely happening within me. From there, children can begin noticing how emotions feel in their bodies, what may have caused them, and how those feelings can change.

There is another layer of awareness that is especially important to us: discernment. As children become more aware of their inner world, they can begin recognizing what they are actually feeling, what may have influenced those feelings, and how the emotions of people around them can affect their own experience. That awareness can help them pause before reacting or projecting what they are feeling onto someone else. To us, that is part of the real power of awareness: understanding ourselves more clearly so we can relate to others more consciously.

We also want that awareness to extend outward. “How might someone near me be feeling?” “Did I notice someone who seemed different today?” “Is there a small way I can show them that I see them?” These are simple questions, but they can open meaningful conversations about empathy, kindness, and connection.

Toggy’s journey ends by inviting readers to pause, notice how they feel, consider how someone around them might feel, and think of one small act of kindness. We hope families and educators continue that practice beyond the book.

We’ve also been grateful to see Cognizance: But You Can Call Me Toggy recognized by Reading Is Fundamental and included on Literacy Central, where the book is supported by educational resources for young readers. Seeing Toggy enter that space has been especially meaningful because it reflects what we hoped for from the beginning: that the story could live beyond the page and become a starting point for conversation, reflection, and connection.

Most importantly, we want children to understand that emotions do not have to be hidden, judged, or immediately fixed. They can first be noticed and understood. The more aware children become of themselves, the better equipped they are to understand what they are feeling, take responsibility for how they respond, and meet the feelings of others with empathy rather than projection.

If Toggy can help make that kind of awareness feel natural from an early age, then he is doing exactly what we hoped he would do.

Are there other emotions or experiences you would especially like to help children understand through Toggy?

Absolutely. Cognizance introduces awareness through emotions and empathy, but The Toggy and Tonfy Series™ is about something much larger.

We created Toggy and Tonfy to help children remember who they are at their core: powerful, worthy, and deeply connected. Through gentle storytelling, we hope to nurture emotional awareness while also exploring consciousness, self-trust, intuition, authenticity, connection, and the inner qualities that can sometimes become harder to hear as the world around us gets louder.

For us, it is not simply about helping children recognize an emotion and give it a name. It is about creating moments of awareness. A moment when a child pauses and notices something within themselves. A moment when they question whether a feeling, belief, or expectation truly reflects who they are. A moment when they trust their own voice, recognize their worth, and reconnect with the person they authentically are.

As the series continues, we want Toggy and Tonfy to help children move through the fear, outside expectations, and self-doubt that can sometimes pull them away from that inner voice. Our hope is to nurture enough awareness and self-trust that children feel empowered to listen within, make choices that feel true to who they are, and express themselves without fear determining who they become.

Ultimately, our hope is to plant seeds of love, kindness, awareness, and self-trust in young hearts and minds. We don’t want Toggy and Tonfy to tell children who to become. We want to help remove the layers that can make them forget who they already are.

That intention is captured in a message at the heart of our work:

“Because even one spark, just one heart lit with love and awareness, can raise the vibration of a home, a community, and even the world.”

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