Hello And Joy And The Stormy Day

Calming children´s minds, soothing their hearts and putting a smile on their face was my goal when writing and illustrating the book Hello and Joy and the Stormy Day. Learning to overcome being frightened of a thunderstorm will be fun with our two little friends, Hello and Joy.

This is a delightful, playful, rhyming picture book that is as fun to read as well as to look at. It is a second in a series of stories that was inspired in the summer of 2003.

As a small child I had a stuffed elephant that was like my ´DeeDee" security blanket. During some very unfortunate events in my young life my beloved elephant was lost but never forgotten. Then in 2006 as I was helping my mother move on to heaven my sister bought me a new elephant to cuddle with. Then my other sister got me a zebra to join us. One morning as I was quietly moving about my mother´s house so I wouldn´t wake her. She woke up and very sweetly called out .... hello, helloooo" I responded that I was trying to be quiet and she said, Oh please I want to hear you, it brings me joy!" That´s when the characters Hello and Joy were born.

Time, energy, imagination and love went into my illustrations. I also feel it is important to put emphasis on an easy to read "child friendly" font and to get children´s attention I use bouncing & scrolling text that makes tracking and reading the words fun for children as well as adults. Rhyming words to pull" them into the story and several high frequency sight words help them learn as they read it over and over.

Hello and Joy is not just a good cuddle up and read to me book, it is also great for the Pre-K to 1st grade classroom. It promotes reading, rhyming, sight words and it encourages friendship, courage & imagination.

As a kindergarten teacher assistant for 16 years I saw the need for this type of book. In the process of writing and illustrating I included the children in critiquing my books. The easy and fun to read format gives children their own personal victory on the road to reading.