Can you just imagine what our world would be like if everyone accepted themselves, other individuals, and unavoidable circumstances? Acceptance just might be the key to our happiness.

As an elementary school teacher for over twenty years, I have seen middle-grade children struggle with acceptance on many different levels. It is my mission to help children with their own struggles.

Finding solace and synchronicities in the gifts of nature, I have come to believe that answers to some of life’s most complex problems can be found in the world around us. Finding a long-sought-after arrowhead while digging a beloved pet’s grave told me – this is as it should be. Being amazed by a flurry of baby toads hopping in the grass along a country roadside said – you go for that toad story! These are just two experiences that have inspired me. So, it seems quite fitting to guide children through their own difficulties in a most prevalent way – through the wonders of nature.

It is my belief that there is an incomprehensible source (call it what you will) that is here or within that guides us on our journey. It speaks in various voices, some of which cannot be heard. This is another realization that I hope my books impart.

Hence, in my series, Secrets of The Toad, Emma and her older brother, Jake, discover their own answers to many of life’s challenges. They do this while journeying with a most unlikely source—Tobias, the mystical toad.

May you enjoy their journey as well as your very own.