Cheerful Children's Stories: Bringing Imagination to Life

I love life. I love celebrating it—milestones, birthdays, and the simple joy of having fun. Children, especially, bring out that sense of celebration in me. Their curiosity, imagination, and ability to be fully present remind me how beautiful life really is.

I also feel strongly about encouraging children to simply be children.

Life has a way of introducing itself very early—through loss, change, and experiences that sometimes come too soon. That’s why, in my books, I focus on something different: celebrating childhood, imagination, and the freedom to explore a world where anything is possible.

Some of my earliest ideas came from the simple, playful conversations I had with my granddaughter—imagining the unexpected and creating stories out of those moments.

We would imagine the most unexpected things—like what animals could fit inside a car. Would it be a hundred bunnies? Five tigers? Maybe even a giraffe if we opened the sunroof?

Those moments became the beginning of something more.

We even created a character together—a giraffe named Daisy. So many of our play sessions revolved around Daisy and what it would be like if she came to visit for a day. What would she do? Where would she go? Of course, in our world, she loved donuts, jumping around, and getting into a little bit of trouble.

It was fun. It was silly. And it was full of imagination. And that’s when I knew—I needed to write a story about her.

Daisy Mae and the Red Glasses became that story. It’s about a giraffe looking for a break from her everyday routine, using magical red glasses to step into a different kind of day. Along the way, she discovers something important—that while new experiences can be exciting, there is also comfort and beauty in the familiar.

But I also wanted the story to carry something deeper.

Children who wear glasses are sometimes teased or made to feel different. I loved the idea of turning that around—making those red glasses something special, something fun, something everyone wanted to wear. By the end of the story, they become something to celebrate, not something to hide.

My next book, Cal’s Catch from the Sea, came from a very real moment with my son.

When he was about eight years old, he wanted to catch his very first fish. We didn’t have the right equipment—no proper bait, no real plan—but he had determination. He asked if he could use a piece of bologna from the refrigerator, and we went out to the dock together.

He hadn’t had his line in the water long before he got a bite.

I still remember his excitement—jumping, shouting, convinced he had caught a shark. When he finally pulled it in, it turned out to be a catfish. But in that moment, something changed for him.

He realized he didn’t want to hurt it.

Instead, he wanted to save it and return it to the water.

That moment stayed with me—the excitement, the pride, and then the compassion. It was something I knew I wanted to capture in a story.

Because sometimes the biggest lessons come from the simplest moments.

At the heart of all my books is the same goal:

To create stories that celebrate life, encourage imagination, and leave children with something positive to hold onto.

Because childhood should be filled with wonder, laughter, and the freedom to imagine something more.

And if you ever happen to see me doing a handstand or a cartwheel with Emma in the summer grass, just smile. We might be pretending we're dolphins or mermaids, or even hunting for crystals and hidden gems.

More often than not, it's in those moments—when we choose to embrace a little silliness, that we find the greatest joy.