Author Insights

I have quite a whimsical view of the world. Perhaps that is why I am more comfortable writing children's books. I consider it an honor to share my ideas and insights with young minds (and hopefully some older ones) and do not take the responsibility lightly.

Since my once 8-to-12-year-old daughters struggled to find stories that resonated with them, I decided to write a middle-grade book series. Within this age group, there are many issues to tackle—almost too many. So, to keep it simple, this series orbits around one primary theme: friendship.

What is friendship? Middle school is typically the first time young minds must grapple with that question. And what we often discover is that friendships, or more broadly relationships, can be complicated. The human bonds we took for granted when we were younger start to lose their comfortable edge. When adding that reality to an already confusing array of physical and emotional challenges, life can become quite scary and frustrating.

However, if a child has just one loyal and trustworthy friend or mentor, even the most difficult times become bearable. In this series, I attempt to convey what a true and loyal relationship/friendship looks like during fun, exciting, and challenging times.

I hope readers find Roy and his friends relatable, believable, smart, interesting, and most of all—flawed. After all, they are human, and humans make mistakes. What differentiates us from each other is what we do with those mistakes. Do we ignore them? Do we deny them? Do we blame others for them? Or, do we accept the critical knowledge mistakes provide so we are more prepared to conquer the next challenge? My goal is that you find the characters grow from their faults—no matter how hard they are to accept. And most important, those characters accept the flaws in others and give them the space and understanding to grow as well.

Isn't that what friendship is all about?