Baby Gnowch is a light-hearted, humorous and relatable story about a little girl, Angie, who turns into a creature when she becomes annoyed, mad or frustrated. She loses control of her emotions and does things that could hurt others or herself. Along with her mother, they develop strategies to better manage her big emotions in an assertive way. This story is a fantastic social story for the early years in school to teach children how to recognise the body's warning systems that let them know they are feeling frustrated or angry and provides strategies and opportunities to better communicate their feelings. They will discuss and create ways to manage themselves when big emotions have taken over them. There are four key discussion questions at the end of the story that gives you an honest insight into what really bothers your child or students and furthermore, what they need to calm and get back to baseline.
Additionally, Baby Gnowch has literacy discussion points, such as rhyme, vowel sound pronunciation, alternate vowel sound spellings and irregular words. 'Gnowch' is an irregular spelling to discuss, as very rarely are GN seen together and almost never OW seen together in a single syllable word to form the /ou/ /æɔ/ sound (I can only find the acceptation words, browse, brown, town and clown!). Symbolism can also be explored as the name Gnowch was created to inspire the thought of a gnome size like creature, hence why I used the GN spelling for the /n/ sound at the beginning.
Ultimately, Baby Gnowch provides an authentic snapshot of what it looks and feels like to be a child and was design to be fun and engaging to read! The events are inspired by my nieces and classroom teaching experiences.
It is a lovely story for everyone who has a Baby Gnowch inside of them.
My work-in-progress book, Elsie’s Taco Truck, was inspired while I watched my 2 year-old Goddaughter, Elsie, playing with her Taco Truck.
As I further developed the story, I saw an opportunity to create another social story about the difficulties in making friendships and wanting to be unique.
Ultimately, this book is for enjoyment and entertainment! I took inspiration from my classroom teaching experiences and special education research for this story.
Elsie has a taco truck. It's the brightest one around.
Everybody knows she makes the most delicious tacos in town.
As she stirs her famous hot sauce, who does she see?
"Ada-Marie is copying me!"
Elsie loves to play by creating different foos trucks.
Ada-Marie wants to join in, but she is unaware how to ask.
This is a funny little story about two joyful girls who are learning how to over come
miscommunication, make friendships and learning how to include others.
