Midwest Book Review on “Holidays With a Tail”

Holidays with a Tail: A Tale of Winter Celebrations” is multicultural holiday story that appeals to culturally diverse juvenile audiences.

Written experienced elementary school teacher, Kelly Bouldin Darmofal, Holidays with a Tail begins the story with Alex on Christmas Eve, after having just moved from the suburbs to the city. Alex had wished for a Christmas gift of a puppy to play with. The next day brings one new surprise after another. Being Episcopalian, Alex celebrated Christian traditions in December, and he was overjoyed to find a puppy-sized box with holes in the lid for his present. Out popped Zipper, his new adorable golden puppy, his special Christmas gift.

The next day, when grandparents came bringing more Christmas gifts, Zipper surprised Alex by running out the door and into the snowy night. This begins a wonderful tale of exploration of ways different folk with different religious traditions celebrate the midwinter time of Solstice.

Zipper leads Alex and his mom, Katy on an exploration and traveling tour of festivities and homes, including four different families celebrating the Jewish Hanukkah, the Hindu Dwali, the Latina las Posadas, and the African American Kwanzaa. Each resident kindly explains the symbols and reasons for their celebrations, along with special foods and candle lighting customs and their significance.

Alex and Katy reclaim Zipper and eventually return to their home to celebrate Christmas dinner with their family and their special foods and gifts.

“Holidays with a Tail: A Tale of Winter Celebrations” is the perfect vehicle to explain to young children the wonderful richness and significance of different holiday celebration traditions for different cultures, peoples, and religions.

Read the original review on MBR


Holidays With a Tail: A Tale of Winter Celebrations
Kelly Bouldin Darmofal, author
Brad A. Calhoun, illustrator
Loving Healing Press
5145 Pontiac Trail, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
www.LovingHealing.com
9781615996155, $17.95 PB, $29.95 HC, $4.95 Kindle, 34pp

Emma Lou the Yorkie Poo

SKU 978-1-61599-456-4
$15.95
Breathing in the Calm
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Product Details
UPC: 978-1-61599-456-4
Brand: Loving Healing Press
Binding: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Author: Kim Larkins
Pages: 32

Meet Emma Lou, the Yorkie Poo - a little dog with big worries. She loves playing with her best friend, Pearl, but Pearl doesn’t always pay attention to Emma Lou’s worries. With the help of some new friends, Caleb the Calico cat, Patrick the pig and Gigi the ginormous giraffe, Emma Lou and Pearl begin to learn a new technique to calm their minds and bodies. Parents, educators, counselors - and especially children - can benefit from Emma Lou and her friends’ curious adventure to a mindful experience.

Readers will:

  • Learn how to help a child that worries
  • Teach children a simple technique to practice mindfulness
  • Support your child’s emotional growth through experiencing a delightful adventure

“Emma Lou the Yorkie Poo: Breathing in the Calm is a playful approach to real concerns that kids have on a daily basis. Kim uses relatable animal characters to bring to light concerns that impact children everywhere - along with a great strategy to help!”
-- Marie Robinson, M.Ed., principal, pre-K to 12

“For over 20 years, I have noted our children experiencing increasing levels of joy-blocking anxiety. In this whimsical and engaging story, Kim has created a very useful therapeutic tool. She captured the essence of a hopeful way out that children can readily identify with and rapidly incorporate, just like Emma Lou did!”
-- John Pasquarelli, LCSW, LADC

"Kim is a warm, kind and compassionate social worker dedicated to improving the lives of others. Her book is an easy read for children to learn about managing anxiety and contains techniques that can be applied right away.”
-- Gwen M. Ackley, LCSW

“With excessive exposure to flashing changing screens, children are having a hard time settling their brains. Their thinking is fragmented and their focus is fractured. In Emma Lou the Yorkie Poo: Breathing In The Calm, Kim Larkins cleverly and creatively invites children into an animal-friendly storyline of learning how to calm themselves. Although Larkins addresses worry, Emma Lou is a valuable tool for releasing stress throughout the nervous system, induced from screen stimulation.”
-- Holli Kenley, author of Power Down & Parent Up

From Loving Healing Press www.LHPress.com

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