The Coping Series is the recipient of the Mom’s Choice Award

All Kinds of Writing

I have always been a writer. When I wrote my first book in pencil at the age of eight, my brother Jim said, “That’s very good, but you should copy it over in pen so it doesn’t fade away.” Unfortunately, I didn’t, and he was right. Throughout high school, dozens of poems and short stories took the place of my lost book and I was proud to see my byline in my high school newspaper. After graduating from college, I penned many poems, wrote a major research project for the Catholic Diocese of Rochester, and welcomed any chance to write activities and new lesson plans for my work as a youth minister and teacher.

I took a position writing publicity for a civil engineering firm, but somehow my heart was not in building roads, bridges, and sewers. When Rochester Institute of Technology recruited me to launch a new publication for high school students, I jumped at the chance and enjoyed the work very much.

By that time, my husband and I had two children and I wanted more time at home with them. So I founded a freelance writing and public relations company with magazines for young people, schools, and museums as my major clients. One year I reported on every school play in one of New York State’s largest school districts! I also won an award for my school photography that year. It was certainly better than writing about civil engineering, but part of me longed to sink my teeth into a challenging book project.

In 1988, our son Danny was diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD). When he entered public school, it took us many months to learn the ropes of special education and get him officially classified. Without the supports he needed, he floundered academically and became a very unhappy little boy. Our family received a lot of help from teachers, counselors, psychiatrists, and other parents. To give something back to them, I researched and wrote a feature magazine story on learning disabilities and discovered that 1.3 million other families had kids with LD. Like us, I learned, many had suffered tortuous paths to get the services their children needed.

Launching a Publishing Company

In 1990 my first book, The Don't-Give-Up Kid and Learning Disabilities, presented itself to be written. However, I was not prepared for the disappointment of hearing a major children’s publisher say, “We love your book but don’t believe there are enough children in the U.S. to read it.” Remembering those 1.3 million families with learning disabilities, I decided to prove her wrong and founded Verbal Images Press.

My husband Jon and I were not sure that we could afford this new venture, but the risk paid off. Parent groups, teachers,  librarians, and media got behind me. I was thrilled when the Library of Congress actually created a new classification for my book. Every week I put new stars on a map of the US showing states where my book had sold. We reprinted time and time again. Jon has always lent his wisdom to major financial decisions and, now that the children are grown, has taken more of a role in the business operations.

Soon after The Kid was published, the phone calls and mail started. Parents and teachers thanked me for writing it, told me their stories, and invited me to speak. Since that time, the experiences of this network of parents and educators have woven their way into my books until it is hard to say where they leave off and my imagination begins. Eagle Eyes: A Child’s Guide to Attention Deficit Disorder, followed in 1991.

Now, after nearly 20 years of publishing, the books keep asking to be written and we are still proud to be an independent press. In the fall of 2009, we presented major updates (4^th editions) of our classics, The Don't-give-up Kid and Eagle Eyes, with new text and illustrations. To give readers something more of Ben from Eagle Eyes, I’ve written a new book, Houdini’s Gift, on using reward charts with memory-challenged kids.

Publishing takes a lot of time, but we have never looked back. We have declined all offers to buy Verbal Images Press or the copyrights because we are convinced that our passion for families with learning disabilities and ADD is the best marketing tool we could ever have.

I did take a break from these topics, however, in 1994 when I indulged another longtime interest of mine, which is history. While on a book tour, I visited the Louisa May Alcott home near Boston and realized that the great reformer Susan B. Anthony lived only 10 miles from my home. Long story short, I became so fascinated with Ms. Anthony that I became a tour guide at her house and eventually wrote a biography of her. For many years, I had the time of my life portraying her in costume at schools and community events.

Two other books by Verbal Images Press include my novel I'm Somebody Too (1992) and First Star I See (1997), by Jaye Andras Caffrey. They sold out and have not been reprinted.

So why such a long break between First Star I See and Houdini’s Gift? From 1998 until 2008, I focused my energies on different forms of alternative healing, pursuing degrees in and working in the fields of naturopathy and massage therapy. When I wrote of Ben’s mom giving him footrubs in Eagle Eyes, I was remembering many similar peaceful moments with both our children.

Aside from the thousands of families who have found hope and healing through our books, the best part of my writing and publishing journey is what happened to our own kids. I still remember the snowy night when I read the first copy of The Don't-give-up Kid to Dan and Beth. Two years later, The Don't-give-up Kid was the first book that Dan successfully read aloud from cover to cover. Now both our children are pursuing fields whose heart and soul is helping others. The choice of career was certainly theirs, but who knows what they would’ve done if I’d stayed with bridges and wastewater treatment plants?