Encouraging Children Through Her Books: The Importance of Reading with Author Kathleen Davis

Kathleen Davis is a retired teacher of ten years, wife, mother of three, and author.  She has her Master’s in Elementary Education from the University of Florida, and she spent her career searching for and reading good children’s books to her students. She believes that books not only provide a fountain of information, but are also a way to enter a new world and completely change a perspective.  

"Dean's Magical Mix Up: The Principal's Pin" is a charming middle-grade tale that humorously explores the age-old desire to grow up too quickly and the valuable lessons that come with it. Dean's journey teaches young readers that the grass isn't always greener on the other side and that understanding the challenges of adulthood is a magical lesson in itself.

“BRAVE,” her first book, was based on her children’s fears at night.  They were not sleeping well and were waking her up through the night.  She could not find a book that was age appropriate, did not create more fears in children, and reinforced that they were safe and loved.  Six months later, her book was self-published.

“Feathers From Above,” was inspired by Kathleen’s children.  They would find feathers and tell her that their Guardian Angel must have paid them a visit. She knew right away that this would be the framework for her next book.  

Kathleen is hoping to encourage children to be brave, know that they are loved, and remember that God is with them through good situations and bad.

Connect with her at the links below:

https://kathleendavisbooks.com
https://kathleendavisbooks.com/shop/
https://www.instagram.com/kathleendavisbooks/
https://www.facebook.com/BRAVEtheBook.kd/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1736113275

Get the MOMS WHO CREATE JOURNAL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNH2WH8J?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_58ZRYVG6G1FE6ZMDKRAD

Transcript

Kathleen: 0:03

Whatever it is, just do one thing a day towards achieving medical, whether it's applying for your LLC or researching, you know different distribution channels just get started. You're not gonna. Nothing's gonna happen if you just sit there, and I feel like a lot of times we get stuck in not knowing what to do next, but just literally do anything, even if it's research. Start something.

Kelli: 0:32

Welcome to the Moms who Create podcast. I'm your host, kelly Hile, and I am thrilled to share a podcast that celebrates the incredible moms who are pursuing their creative passions. Are you a mom who feels like you just can't balance your creative pursuits with the demands of motherhood? Each week, I'm bringing you interviews with accomplished and talented moms who have made their creative dreams a reality. I talk to writers, artists, musicians and entrepreneurs who have successfully found a way to do what they love while raising the ones they love. Some of the writers I talk to are New York Times bestselling authors, while some are self-published first-time authors. I also share my own insights and resources to help you navigate the unique challenges of being a mom who creates. So, whether you're an early bird or a night owl, a seasoned pro or just starting out, I want you to know that you can pursue your creative passions and be an amazing mom at the same time. Grab a cup of coffee, a notebook and get ready to join our community of like-minded moms who are on a mission to live intentionally and create with purpose. This is the Moms who Create podcast, and I can't wait to share this journey with you.

Kelli: 1:45

Hi everyone, and welcome back to this week's episode of the Moms who Create podcast, happy December. It is December 11th. It's almost Christmas. Like it's actually almost Christmas. I'm not even exaggerating this time. You know, in July it was like it's Halloween, but it actually is like two weeks of Christmas. Are you ready? Are you ready? I always said I was never going to do elf on the shelf. I made a reel about it once. Today we bought the elf on the shelf. So here we go with that. I guess never say never.

Kelli: 2:21

Anyway, today I'm talking to Kathleen Davis. She's been on the show twice. She's absolutely fabulous and I know you're going to enjoy her today talking about her new book, the importance of reading everything. So here's what about her. Kathleen's a retired teacher of 10 years, she's a wife, she's a mom of three and, of course, she's an author. She has her master's in elementary education from the University of Florida. She spent her career searching for and reading good children's books to her students. She believes that books not only provide a fountain of information, but are also a way to enter a new world and completely change a perspective. 100%, totally, completely agree. She talks about her new book today, dean's Magical Mixup. It's a young middle grade chapter book. Again, kathleen's amazing. I hope you enjoy today's episode. Kathleen, it's so good to have you back on the podcast. I've had you on here twice. This is the third time. You're always putting out something new. I love watching your reels. You're the content maker of in the author world that I strive to be because I hate making rules, I hate making content.

Kelli: 3:30

I don't do it. I'll be like I went six days without putting anything on Instagram. Oh, my gosh, the engagement's down and everything, and then I'll just put three out in one day and then I won't do it again for a week. Anyway, love how you do everything and you have a new book out. So thanks for being here, thanks for talking again.

Kathleen: 3:46

Thanks for having me. I am so excited to be here. And yeah, the Instagram is. We put a lot of stress on that as a part of our business plan but in reality, I would say, very minimal sales come from my Instagram. It's just kind of like I kind of see it as top of my awareness for authors, for parents, so that if they have that gift that they need to come and go and get it's there, but very few sales actually come from it. It's okay, take six days off, don't worry about it.

Kelli: 4:19

Okay, Before we talk about Dean's magical mixup For those who might not know you, which I feel like everyone does- introduce yourself to everybody.

Kathleen: 4:28

So my name is Kathleen Davis. I used to be a teacher for 10 years. I then became a mom and kind of just lost myself and started writing, and then my son started to have nighttime fears. I couldn't find a book that didn't reinforce his fears, and that is how I came up with my first book, premise, which is Brave, which is all. It's just a short, sweet nighttime read aloud about going to sleep and having your super sidekick, which is your sibling, with you. And then at the end it answers the Bible verse from Isaiah do not fear, for I'm with you. And that's my baby. This is the third one.

Kathleen: 5:06

And then I had my second one, who? She would find feathers and bring them up to me throughout the day and say, mom, my guardian angel must have visited me. And this was kind of like mid COVID and I just thought, wow, wow, we all need this message. The whole world needs that to be reminded that we're not alone. Again, kind of the same premise with Brave we're not alone and that one's called Feathers from Above. Those are my two picture books.

Kathleen: 5:30

Now my kids are getting bigger and my son is in third grade and he just really hates school and we struggle with it all the time and I thought, well geez, this is the next story. I was went for a run one day and the story just kind of hit me and this is all about a little boy named Dean's, called Dean's Magical Mixup, who really doesn't like going to school, argues with his mom every day about having to go and has a really rough day one day at school, ends up making a really poor choice and steals the principal's pin and he goes to sleep that night wishing he was an adult actor. You know just one event after another goes to sleep wishing he was an adult and he wakes up the next day and he is the principal of the school and then it's all about him going through his day as the principal and having to really understand what it means to be an adult and how difficult it really is.

Kelli: 6:29

So I showed my daughter this book last night. Love the illustrations, love it all. We haven't read it yet but I was telling her, like, what it's about and I said you know, he becomes the principal. And she just was like whoa, and you can see, you're like thinking what would happen if she was the principal of her school.

Kathleen: 6:43

She was like I have a key to all the rooms, I could go anywhere in the school and it was so cute just to like see her thought process of it and it was really is a great book for conversation like that and with my teacher background, I I would often have parents who were like I you know, how do I, how do I help my kids with comprehension, how do I help them become better readers? And the number one way you can help your child become a better reader is reading aloud to them. That means all the way up to like fifth grade. That is the number one way you can help your child be a better reader. So books like this I kind of created purposely to help you have those conversations with your children.

Kathleen: 7:24

If you go to the back of it, it not only has a glossary but it has questions to reflect on. That go in order of the chapters that you know. You can finish the chapter and be like you know what would you do if you were the principal? What sort of things would you do? What sort of problems do you think they're going to have? You know there's. I really set it up for parents to be able to have those engaging conversations. So even if you only want to read one or two pages, the questions are back there and you can discuss them. I also wrote it. It's a very clean book. So I was so tired of my third now third grader coming home with the books that are very, very popular, you know, diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dogman and Catboy, which are perfectly perfect for so many kids. But we don't use words like stupid and suck and loser.

Kelli: 8:12

I don't want my kids to use those words.

Kathleen: 8:14

And again, if your kids are into those, that's fine. It's not to say your kids are going to use them. I just didn't want my kids reading them. So I also wrote this because my other two were faith based and I didn't want this one necessarily to be faith based because I wanted it to be able to get into elementary schools. But I wrote it very clean. There is none of that language that you wouldn't necessarily want your kindergarten or first grader or second grader to be exposed to. So it was written very purposeful to be inclusive of really like five years old all the way up to like 10-year-old, so this is your first non-children's picture book.

Kelli: 9:24

This is more like a young middle grade chapter book. So how was that transition as an author, going from picture books to a chapter book with lots of words? You really had to elaborate on these stories and make it for older kids, so tell me how that transition was for you.

Kathleen: 9:44

Well, it was really fun, I really liked. So I actually have a fourth book that I wrote prior to this, but my illustrator wasn't ready. And I mean those picture books. You slave over every single word. My fourth book is another rhyming book, especially poetry. I'm like why do I write rhyming books? This is so much more difficult. So when I started to write this, it was like freeing, because I could just write whatever I wanted. I could just write, write, write, write, write, and it was beautiful. I loved it. However, I will say the editing process was one of the most terrible things. I hated it so much I got it.

Kathleen: 10:24

I edited it and took so much time to personally edit it a few times. I additionally paid an editor who did, I think, three rounds of edits after she completed her three rounds of edits and then I had to go back and edit it. I think I was editing it until I pretty much hit print. I just kept reading it and revising it and it wasn't so much like. Of course I don't want a dumb comment in there and a semi-colon where there should be a dash or something, but really it was those repetitions. And last night I read it and was kicking myself because I read the word warmly and then I was in the next paragraph and I was like, wait a second, did I just do that again? Sure enough, it was warmly, warmly, and those are the sort of things where you can read it a million times but you just don't catch it. But it was a challenge, but it was also. The writing was wonderful. The editing was rough, I bet Real rough.

Kelli: 11:20

It's a lot. Yeah, I have some favorite authors that will use the same kind of catch Like not a catch phrase the same kind of phrase or word and you can tell it's like their favorite word and it pops up all the time through their books and I'm like I wonder if they know they're doing that. But at the same time it's like I kind of like it because that's just their style, that's how they talk. So, I mean, it's huge authors that do that too, so don't beat yourself up on saying warmly twice.

Kathleen: 11:51

So hard to edit too, because you wanted it to be in the language of a child and there's a lot of inner dialogue. But you also want it to be grammatically correct, because these are children meaning it and you don't want the children to be reading again, just like using words. You don't want them to use you also.

Kelli: 12:05

they're learning through what they're reading.

Kathleen: 12:07

So you don't want them to necessarily be learning how to write sentence fragments, which I had, a lot of sentence fragments because dialogue of a third grade boy.

Kelli: 12:16

That's a tough line.

Kathleen: 12:18

How do I do this and make it still sound like it's coming from his head and his thoughts and have a complete sentence? So it was tricky.

Kelli: 12:27

OK, I mean congratulations on getting out, thank you, I love everything about it. The illustrations are so fitting for it. I haven't read it yet, but just how it flows, I didn't even notice in the back until you mentioned that you do have the glossary for some words and, like you know, king cobra, like things that kids won't necessarily just know by reading it. And then also the comprehension. I love that. My daughter is such a good reader not to toot my own heart, you know, but she is, she's an excellent reader. She really is and she's advanced. And so her teacher told us, like make sure you really work on that comprehension, then you know she can fly through a book, then ask her tons of questions about it. You know work on that comprehension, so this is absolutely perfect for that.

Kathleen: 13:12

And I'm so glad you added that. Thank you, and I really tried to put a lot of like symbolism into it that like parents could catch but maybe your child doesn't catch. For instance, I said I mentioned he steals the pin Throughout the whole story. Every time he makes a decision as a principal, the pin picks him prior and you know there's like that whole discussion like is it a punishment? Why is he freaking him? The pin also starts to become heavier and then when he finally ends the book and he tells the principal the truth, one of, I think one of the final sentences is that you know it was as light as a feather. You know, like why is that happening? The day that he has a really, really terrible day, there happens to be a thunderstorm outside and you know I say like the storm inside.

Kathleen: 13:55

There are opportunities to have discussions of symbolism and the things that are happening beyond the words. However, you know, a first or second grader can read it and just read the words and totally get it. But you could definitely definitely dig deeper. And and yeah, the illustrations are just amazing. His name is David Rivera, he's from Argentina and he nailed it. I really, as an elementary school teacher, I didn't really want to read books to my kids that didn't have pictures in it, because you know when you lose their attention after a few pages, it's nice to show them a picture and they're like I haven't got it. Also, as a kid, you love the pictures. It all gets like it's a free page. You just got a free page in there. I love Mercy Watson by Kate DeCamillo and my kids love it. Even my third grader still loves them, and they're chapter books that have full color illustrations in them, and so I really wanted that piece of fun still in there, because they're kids.

Kathleen: 14:49

You know they want to read these big fat books and stuff, but at the end of the day, they're kids. They want easy reads that make them feel good and are comfortable. Also, the illustrations are beautiful. He did a really, really great job and I agree with you. I think they're very fitting for, like, the age group because they're like comical but cartoony but also realistic.

Kelli: 15:08

I don't even know how to describe it.

Kathleen: 15:09

They're great. So I have two pieces, two parts, picked out. If I could read a little bit, oh, I'd love that. Yes, okay, so this is from chapter six. This is after he has been turned into the principal and he is just kind of realizing it. It says Dean forced his eyelids open, moving as if he were in slow motion.

Kathleen: 15:27

He didn't want to see the face staring back at him. As both eyes wide in, he began to realize that none of his wishing had worked. He was principal Daniels. Dean breathed a deep and heavy sigh of sadness. What now? He thought. He walked out of his stall unsure of what to do next.

Kathleen: 15:42

Suddenly, the door to the bathroom smung open and a kindergarten student walked in. Hello, principal Daniels. He squeaked as he walked past Dean. His greeting made Dean stop abruptly. The child was talking to him. Hello, dean replied, but it came out too high pitched. He cleared his throat and tried again. Hello, but this time he used his best deep voice impersonation. His voice boomed. The kindergartener smiled, not at all aware that it was really Dean, on the inside and walked into a stall. Dean was amazed. It was as if the little guy didn't even care and thought and that's when it hit him he was principal Daniels, at least everyone else. He was not just a wrinkly old guy with a plump belly, but he was an adult, free to do whatever he wanted. He could tell every single child and grown up what to do, and they would have to listen to him. So that is when he is starting to realize that he has the freedoms of an adult.

Kathleen: 16:33

Because, our kids think that being an adult is just delightful and don't actually understand everything that we have to do and that they're in the best years of their life.

Kathleen: 16:44

It really teaches. I think, at the end of the day, this book really teaches a great lesson about being grateful for every experience that you're going through, because things can be hard for everybody, right, okay, the other excerpt I have is at the very end of the book, when he is kind of apologizing to his mother for being a little snot-faced. And here it is. It's okay, buddy, his mom said, as she leaned down and kissed the top of his head. I know you were mad last night and I understand that bad days can lead to lots of anger and frustration, but you can't take it out on me or anyone. Sometimes we just have bad days. The good news is, when you wake up, that day is over. You get the chance to start again with every new day. And yes, I forgive you. I will always forgive you". She grabbed his round face with both of his hands. Now what was all that screaming about, she asked.

Kelli: 17:36

And then it goes on to what he was actually screaming about.

Kathleen: 17:41

But there's just so many little sweet lessons in here about, like I said, gratitude and responsibility and hard work and really just things we want our children to have more of. So I think that parents will love it. I think, most importantly, kids will love it, and I'm hoping to be able to continue to write it. Then this will hopefully just be book one and it will continue with the many adventures that Dean gets to go on.

Kelli: 18:10

Before we close, give some little bits of inspiration to the moms listening. I'm sure people want to go buy this book, so tell everybody where they can go buy Dean's magical mix up.

Kathleen: 18:20

OK, so to best support authors or really any small businesses, the best way to purchase is direct through their website. My website is KathleenDavisBookscom, because you know all those big companies like Amazon. They take a lot of money. However, it is also available on Amazon. But if you purchase through my website, kathleendavisbookscom, I send it totally signed. I can personalize it. It just comes much prettier and nicer and better. However, again, it is available on Amazon. If you live in the Nashville or Franklin area, it is sold locally here. But yeah, that is how you can get it, yay, awesome.

Kelli: 18:59

As well as your other books too. You can get your other two children's picture books on there as well.

Kathleen: 19:03

You can get brave and feathers from above and Dean's magical mix up all on Amazon.

Kelli: 19:10

And to the listeners go buy them. I have all three now and I love them. I love them. Ok, I never like to end an episode without giving some sort of advice, inspiration, something to moms listening, whether it's just in motherhood or as maybe a mom that wants to become an author or start some sort of writing journey. So what's a piece of advice or something that you would tell to a mom along her journey, whether it's creative or not?

Kathleen: 19:38

I would say for moms, a piece of advice I would give is take it one day at a time and sometimes even take it one minute at a time, and that goes for when you mess up too. When you mess up, it's OK. I know sometimes I'll be in my mess up point with my kids and I'm losing my temper and I'm thinking to myself as I'm losing my temper get calm, get calm, get calm. But I'm still losing my temper. But I do once I'm calm.

Kathleen: 20:09

In some moments I do apologize, I do try to backtrack it. I do try to not just continue down that path. I know I am the number one model for my child and they are watching what I do, not necessarily what I say. So the way I act and that includes when I mess up, I'm sorry and I messed up and I shouldn't have behaved that way I expect my children to do that when they mess up with me or other people, and so I really try to just take it one step at a time. And when I mess up, the apologetic cannot beat myself up about it. We all have that mom guilt and we go to bed and we're like I shouldn't have done this, I shouldn't have done that. We'll fix it. Even if it's the next day, it's all right. It's OK, fix it.

Kelli: 20:52

It's hard.

Kathleen: 20:53

It is such hard work to be a parent and it's hard to be a kid. It's just hard to be. Every day of life is tough. It's difficult, and the least we can do is just try to recognize. When I was a teacher, it was the same. They would say you need 10 positives for every negative you give to the children, and so just try to recognize that with their little people, and we're doing our best, though Don't beat yourself up and treat them the way you want them to treat you, and that's it. That's it.

Kathleen: 21:25

And then as aspiring entrepreneurs or authors. I would give the exact same advice Just take it one day at a time. But I would kind of switch it a little and say set goals. If you look at my desk right here, it is literally covered in sticky notes. I'm old school and they just have my little to do list that I constantly am writing down. And take it one day at a time, but start, get started. If there is something, whether it's starting a small business or writing a book, whatever it is, just do one thing a day towards achieving that goal. Whether it's applying for your LLC or researching different distribution channels, just get started. Nothing's going to happen if you just sit there and I feel like a lot of times we get stuck in, not knowing what to do next, but just literally do anything, even if it's research, start something.

Kelli: 22:18

Starting to be the hardest part, because if you look at it as one whole picture, that's too much and you don't start. You don't start, but you have to just take it a step at a time a minute at a time, exactly.

Kathleen: 22:29

Sometimes, when I think about what I need to accomplish by the end of the month, my brain is like no stop, shut down. I can't do it. Which is why I write a ton to do list. All right, I'm going to get this list done, and then I'm going to get this list done, and I'm going to get this list done and then I'm done with the first list and I'm like what was I freaking out about?

Kelli: 22:46

Like that was nothing. But it's like it's a new day, that thing that you put off for literally months and it takes you 20 minutes and you're like why? Why did you do that? I wasn't telling you 100%.

Kathleen: 22:57

Yesterday I had to do oh, I was doing my Amazon page and I was just dreading it. I was adding A plus content to my page, which is where, when you go to Amazon, you can see actual pictures of the book, you can have more information about it, and a lot of authors don't even know that you can put that up there. It's on your author page, not your KDP page. Anyways, I was just dreading doing it and putting it off. Putting it off. I did it straight and I was like huh, I'm actually kind of enjoying this and it took like an hour. So let's do it. Just do whatever it is that you need to do to start it. Amen, amen.

Kelli: 23:34

But just came out like I was in church. Kathleen, it's always so awesome following you. It is awesome following you, but it's always really nice talking to you. You are very inspirational. And I just love staying with you. Great, it's the best. You already told us where people can find your books. Now where can they find you online? To follow you on Instagram, facebook, yes.

Kathleen: 23:53

So you can find me online completely and totally embarrassing myself. Sometimes I put things out and I'm like oh gosh, this is cringe-worthy.

Kelli: 24:01

No I love it.

Kathleen: 24:02

I hit share anyways on Kathleen Davis books and I know a lot of authors are strictly author author stuff, book stuff. My life is 80% mom life, so you'll find a lot of mom stuff and then you'll also have my book stuff on there, but it's Kathleen Davis books on Instagram and on Facebook it's bravethebookkd. It's super weird. Bravethebookkd is my Facebook page, but Kathleen Davis books on Instagram is usually the easiest way to find me and follow me and see my crazy life.

Kelli: 24:38

Love it. Look at the show notes. I'll have links to everything books, her website and Instagram and Facebook all the things. Would you leave me a review wherever you listen Apple Podcasts, spotify, facebook, facebook. I would appreciate it if you could end the year or start the year by leaving a review of the podcast, whether it's just stars or some words, and tell me if this is beneficial to you, if you like the stories, if you find it encouraging, if you've found new authors. I really would appreciate it. Thank you so much for listening. I will be back next week giving you a little dose of happiness and creativity.