So, I’m going to admit something to you right off the bat… I dreamt of
being a veterinarian since I was knee high to a ladybug. (Bet you thought I was
going to say grasshopper, didn’t you?) Well, I like grasshoppers well enough,
but I’m enchanted by ladybugs. Plus, they are thought to be good luck
symbols that are here to remind us that life is short and not to let our petty
problems cloud a single day. But, I digress…
Let me just say that I worked for a veterinarian for a year during high
school and fainted during my first surgical assist, so I promptly erased that
career choice from my mental chalkboard.
Fast forward, oh, 30 years or so, and I’m running this great nonprofit
organization called All for Animals, where we train dogs to be therapy dogs and
have this awesome read-to-a-dog program called ARF! (Animals + Reading = Fun!),
which inspires kids to become better readers. Totally fulfilling stuff!
Still, there was an item on my bucket list that hadn’t been checked off
and that was this: BECOME A PUBLISHED
CHILDREN’S BOOK AUTHOR. I had written a book for grown-ups years before called All
for Animals: Tips and Inspiration for Living a More Compassionate Life, but
now I had my sights set on writing a children’s book. There was just the
teensiest problem: I had never before
written for children. Heck, I didn’t even have kids of my own! All I knew was
the book was going to somehow involve animals.
And then something amazing happened. Have you ever had one of those
surreal moments when everything feels great, stars are aligned and body and
spirit are in balance? Totally mind expanding, right? Well, one Saturday night
in the not too distant past, one of these magical moments tapped me on the
shoulder. It was about 9 pm, the house was dark and quiet and I was attempting
to solve my “Problem of the Moment.”
What, pray tell, was I going to do for my 50th birthday?!
Should I throw a party? Should I book a trip to an exotic locale? Should I
indulge in a spa day? (My answer to all these questions, by the way, was a
resounding You Bet!)
Something else actually popped into my head that night and it was a
voice that decreed (quite loudly, as I recall):
“You need to write a children’s book. And, by the way, it should be
called Animals Have Feelings, Too!”
BOOM! BAM! I felt like I had just
received a shot of adrenaline or, at the very least, chugged a can of Starbucks
Doubleshot Expresso. It was at that moment that I pictured the finished book in
my head. In the weeks that followed, I dusted off my trusty computer and, after
writing three, embarrassingly wimpy drafts, I finally came up with the final
manuscript. (Let me take this opportunity to thank all the parents, teachers,
librarians and other writers who read my early work and encouraged me to keep
trying!)
So, there you have it… my journey from sniffing smelling salts on the
floor of a veterinary surgical room to autographing (and “pawtographing”)
copies of my own children’s book.
Something tells me the fabled good luck of the ladybug rubbed off on me
as I truly feel that my dreams came true!
About the Author:
Karen Lee Stevens is the
founder and president of All for Animals, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
creating a compassionate world for animals and children through humane
education and literacy programs that nurture the human-animal bond.
Karen is also an author
and a Certified Humane Educator who, for the past 14 years, has given
presentations to thousands of elementary school children and has helped them
learn how to treat animals with love and respect.
In February, 2013, Karen launched ARF! (Animals + Reading = Fun!),
a unique literacy program that gives children from all walks of life an
opportunity to improve their reading skills and inspire them to become
life-long readers by reading aloud to specially trained therapy dogs.
Her latest children’s picture book is Animals
Have Feelings, Too!: Exploring Emotions From A to Z.
For
More Information
About the Book:
Title:
Animals Have Feelings, Too!: Exploring Emotions From A to Z
Author: Karen Lee Stevens
Publisher: All for Animals
Pages: 32
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Author: Karen Lee Stevens
Publisher: All for Animals
Pages: 32
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Filled with humor and whimsical
illustrations, this enchanting and educational A to Z guide takes young readers
on a journey through the alphabet with a lovable Labrador retriever named
Sandy, who shows kids that animals and people share many of the same feelings.
From A is for Affectionate to Z is for Zonked, Animals Have Feelings, Too! helps children to understand and
express their feelings and to treat animals with kindness and respect.
For More Information
- Animals Have Feelings, Too!: Exploring Emotions From A to Z is available at Amazon.
- Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
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