It was an exciting day today as I presented my nephew Max with a copy of the book he and I wrote together. “The Nameless Girl and the Lost Prince” is a fun read for 8- to 12-year-olds (including fearless 5- to 7-year-olds, and adults still young at heart). Many of you already know about this project, but for those who don’t, here is the backstory. After my 5-year-old nephew Max's father died last year, I wanted to read him a fairy tale to help him grieve and heal. I had suffered my own difficult loss when I was 5 years old, and I remembered how my aunt read me fairy stories. In particular, I remember wanting to hear one fairy tale over and over again. It was the Brothers Grimm's story: "Little One Eye, Little Two Eye, Little Three Eye." As an adult, I realized these stories had helped me grieve and heal. Although fairy tales have scary elements, they also have happy endings, offering comfort and hope to the listener. Since little children do not process death and grief as adults do, I have come to believe strongly in the power of stories to help. I recognize that we can never know which stories will speak to a child, but my desire to help Max began our storytelling adventure. Our story began with an image I had in my mind of a prince receiving a kiss (like Sleeping Beauty but in reverse) and coming back to life. Then, one afternoon, about a month after his father's death, Max and I were playing together in the sand at the lake. I began telling Max a story and as we continued playing, the story about the sleeping prince grew. The words kept flowing and when I got stuck, Max would tell me what happened next. Max named all the characters, came up with the girl who could do karate and set the final scene. The ending was so unexpected that both Max and I were amazed! I remember him looking at me and just saying, “That was magic Auntie Tania!" Since that day, a whole community of helpers, illustrators and editors has assisted us in bringing our story to the page. We are so grateful for our community of support and it has been a powerful and sacred year of grieving and processing through this creative project. Max and I are excited to finally be able to share our story with others. We hope you may find comfort and healing in it too. Blessings, Tania A picture of that magical day on the beach together, when the story found us.
What looks like just a pile of sand, rocks and holes, was a doorway to a whole new world!
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