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New Book – explores the transition from elementary to middle school


Well, I did it! My book is published. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to pull it off, but I’m excited I could make it happen. If you look at my prior post from four weeks ago, I was just starting to write it.
You can order it on Amazon.
What prompted this spark? It started at an IEP meeting, believe it or not. We were going over my son‘s transition to middle school. The physical therapist, Dr. Blake, was at the meeting. She suggested I write a book about it. I agreed, but simply didn’t have the time.
If you know anything about creating a children’s book, there is an enormous amount of effort that goes into creating it. Literally hundreds of hours coming up with a storyline, character development, illustrating the pages, color schemes, formatting. It’s a huge effort.
I walked away from that meeting, and the idea stuck with me. I started to wonder how I would start the story. I wondered how I could make the storyline interesting. And what I would write about for thirty pages (the average children’s book is 30-35 pages).
By the time I got to the weekend, I had the basic storyline in my head. I think it came together quickly because I already had the character development done.
I typed it out, and sent it to the editor for review. We went back-and-forth with comments to finalize it. Once it was complete, I went to work on illustrating each page. I think I might’ve mentioned this already in my prior post.
And now here we are! Although very intense, I enjoyed the process. I had fun illustrating every page. My emotions ran high for some of them, like with the age progression and the graduation scenes. It all served to remind me that my baby was growing up. I kept a box of kleenex beside me.
The story gives you a glimpse of what its like to leave a place that you’ve known for so long, and to go to a new environment. In this case, it’s leaving the cocoon of elementary school and going out into the wilds of middle school. A lot of us been through that, and its especially challenging for those affected by autism. They need support with transitions. But it can be done! It may just take a little longer.
Thankfully it didn’t take long to publish. Amazon has an amazingly fast turnaround. My goal was to give it to the teachers before school ended. It would be my goodbye gift, and a thank you for all the great years (except 2020 of course).
I haven’t gotten much feedback yet, I hope they like the book! I hope you also read my whirlwind creation. It’s available on Amazon in paper and e-book format. It’s free if you have Kindle Unlimited. I will also upload it to Barnes and Noble, Apple, and wherever e-books are read. Comment below and let me know if you read it, and what you think of it.