FINDING OUR WHY: Picture Books to Heal and Connect
As creators, we often get asked what inspires us to create? When I think about this question, I try to answer from a place of purpose. What is my WHY for telling stories, making art, and teaching the importance of creativity in our lives? My response is clear. I create because it is something that brings me joy, calm, connection, and healing. I want others to feel the same as they engage with my work and be inspired to tell their own stories.
This idea rings true for both of my picture books, 30,000 Stitches, illustrated by Sally Wern Comport and Moonlight Memories, illustrated by Michelle Jing Chan. Both of these stories have elements of hope, love, loss, connection, and healing in them. Art and writing have always been a place of comfort for me so writing about the topic of loss in my first two books, although difficult, felt freeing. As human beings, we all experience difficult times in our lives. Sometimes these difficult times can feel heavy, dark, and overwhelming. Hard to escape. Lonely. I’ve experienced all the above and a big part of what has gotten me through is reaching out for support and talking about what I’m going through. No one should ever have to go through difficult times and healing alone. Connecting with professionals and others who have walked similar paths is empowering. I think we’ve made progress with talking about mental health and topics such as death and dying but there is still a stigma attached to it.
I hope my stories can instill a sense of hope and empower readers to seek support and talk about their emotions. I realized from my own experience and especially when writing 30,000 Stitches that healing isn’t linear. Twenty plus years after 9/11, people are still on their healing journeys and probably will be forever. If we can help young readers understand these concepts early on, it might normalize it for them and make them more apt to reach out when in need.
My latest book, Moonlight Memories, is very personal to me. It’s bittersweet because it is based on the experience of losing my father at a young age and using art and writing to heal and process. Of course I didn’t know it was helping me in that way at the time but I did know it provided me with an escape and a place of comfort and calm. I decided to turn my own grief into a story for young readers because I wish I had stories like Moonlight Memories to turn to after my father died.
After his death, I don’t remember anyone talking to me about it or offering me resources such as books to help me process and feel like I’m not alone in my thoughts and emotions. I wrote Moonlight Memories for that reason. I hope it reminds readers that they’re not alone and that they’ll carry their loved ones with them always. I hope it encourages readers to seek their own outlets to help heal and comfort. I also hope it gives parents and caregivers an entry point to open-up dialogue around the topic of death with children. To normalize it and to help them process their own (and the child’s) feelings around it.
Writing Moonlight Memories also reminded me of the importance of art in my own life. After having my daughter a year and a half ago, I’ve struggled to get back into making art and time for self-care. When I received my first author copy of Moonlight Memories, I read the story to my daughter and said to myself, “you know what, I need to make some art to help myself heal!” I know I feel my best when creating so I signed up for an online collage class. It felt so good to create without pressure and get into that creative flow state. I was an art educator for over a decade and saw first-hand the power of the arts to process and heal. Sometimes, in the midst of struggles, we can lose sight of the things that help us feel our best. It took me reading my own story to my daughter to remind myself of that! There’s a really cool book that recently released called, Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, which offers scientific evidence of how our bodies and brains transform for the better when we participate in the arts. It’s a truly powerful medium for our physical and mental health! I’m glad I was reminded of this when I needed it.In the end, when I’m creating, I always come back to my WHY and if along the way, the the creative process gets hard, or life gets complicated, I remind myself that I need to keep going so my words and art can get out into the world and hopefully have a positive impact on readers. I hope I’ve accomplished this with both 30,000 Stitches and Moonlight Memories and look forward to creating more books that can help do the same in the future!
– Amanda Davis (she/her)
Author-Illustrator | Art Educator
2020 Massachusetts Secondary Art Educator of the Year
2020 Ann Whitford Paul-Writer’s Digest Manuscript Award Winner
Visit my website: http://www.amandadavisart.com
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Piper is feeling sad and empty after the loss of her mother. So when her father, who is struggling in his own way, gives her a telescope to console her, she’s excited to explore the night sky. But she doesn’t find stars or planets when she looks through her lens. Instead, she finds a constellation of memories, a treasured collection of big and small moments with her mother, which she hurries to draw before they fade from view. Night after night she sketches, until eventually, she finds herself in a room covered in memories, surrounded by reminders of her mother’s love.
This poignant book offers children a pathway to acknowledge and process their grief over the loss of a loved one. The author’s spare and lyrical language provides the emotional depth the topic requires, while allowing parents and caregivers to use the book to begin deeper conversations with their young loved ones. Whether children choose to use art as their outlet or find another way, the message is clear: they can carry the memories of their loved ones with them. An ending Note to Parents features guidance from a licensed children’s counselor about how to use the book and where to find additional resources. Written from a place of personal experience, this story strives to bring comfort to children hurting after loss.
An MASL Dogwood Reader’s Award Title
Discover the inspiring story of the American flag that flew over Ground Zero, traveled across all fifty states as it was repaired, and returned to New York as a restored symbol of unity.
The flag was brought out of storage in 2008 when the New York Says Thank You Foundation headed to Greensburg, Kansas, a town nearly destroyed by a tornado. NYSTY brought the flag with them, sparking a grassroots restoration effort that traveled over 120,000 miles across all fifty states, bringing together thousands of people, and helping America heal and rebuild . . . hand by hand, thread by thread, one stitch at a time.
This book is the story of that journey, a journey that ended at the opening of the National September 11 Museum, where the flag remains today. Along the way, the flag was restored using pieces of retired flags from every state—including a piece of the flag that Abraham Lincoln was laid on after he was shot at Ford’s Theater and threads from the original Star-Spangled Banner flag, which flew at Fort McHenry in the War of 1812 and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem. The pieces and threads were stitched in by military veterans, first responders, educators, students, community-service heroes, and family members of 9/11 victims, among others. At each stop, communities came together to remember, to heal, and to unite.