Local Children’s Authors Working Together to Entertain and Inform

It’s not surprising to find discussions of kindness, curiosity, cooperation, bravery, imaginative play, and how to make healthy choices when parents, teachers, and other caregivers are recommending or choosing children’s books. It’s perhaps more surprising, however, to find that those values inform the large and growing community of children’s authors here locally.

Many of them know one another, and they support each other in their creative and business pursuits. It’s also surprising to discover just how many children’s authors are living and working here in Southwest Florida, so there’s a local book to give as a gift for nearly every occasion for the children in your life. While some of the local offerings are location-specific and celebrate Naples and Southwest Florida, there are plenty of other options that are fun and educational for the children in your life this holiday season, no matter where they may live.

Julie Frizzi

The ideas that eventually became Julie Frizzi’s Powerful You originated in her experiences over the last 30 years working with children as an elementary school guidance counselor. Her students and their struggles showed her both the need for a set of tools to help children self-regulate and practice daily mindfulness, and the opportunity to practice the techniques with great success. Powerful You includes simple, step-by-step lessons in how to meditate, ways to reframe and refocus a difficult situation, and tips on how to be a better friend and leader for your peers, regardless of your age. Educators, parents, and other caregivers, in addition to counselors, social workers, and anyone in a support role in a child’s life will find Powerful You to be an effective and empowering resource to help create kinder, more empathetic, and more connected interactions in children’s lives.

Sandra Sahli

Sandra Sahli, a kindergarten teacher at Seacrest Country Day School, knows her audience well, and understands that teachers can have a lasting influence on children’s lives as they grow. She was encouraged by her own teachers to pursue her imaginative work and to follow her heart to a career that allows her to help others through kindness, patience, and teamwork, which are the qualities her series, beginning with The Quig Arrives, hopes to inspire in readers of all ages. The Quig is a visitor from another planet who arrives one day on a Florida beach to work with three siblings to bring more love to the world, one act of kindness at a time, and to encourage children to love unconditionally. What began as a story from a dream her sister had one night in the 1980s has now become a two-book series, with a third in the works, and plans for expansion to seven books. The process of creating The Quig Arrives has been a collaborative work of love between Sandra and both of her siblings that has spanned decades of their lives, demonstrating how love, kindness, patience, and teamwork create community and nurture imagination – inside a family and outside in the world around us.

Karen T. Bartlett

Karen T. Bartlett (Neapolitan Family’s travel editor) emphasizes that her books, the Mostly Kids’ Guides, are NOT storybooks. They aren’t meant to be read only while snuggling on the couch together, but are instead intended to be an educational guide for moms, dads, grandparents, babysitters, and other caregivers in a child’s life to help create the next local adventure for kids of all ages, including adults who are adventurous kids at heart. Teachers and librarians will find these books helpful in creating local programs and field trips, too. Both A Mostly Kids’ Guide to Naples, Marco Island, and the Everglades and its companion, A Mostly Kids’ Guide to Sanibel and Captiva Islands and the Fort Myers Coast, contain quizzes, backstories and overviews of the featured locations, local event calendars, and visitor information, including contact information for some of the most interesting local events and businesses, and would be ideal for local realtors to present as welcome gifts for new Neapolitans, as well as for longtime locals looking for new ways to look at our familiar hometown.

Lisa Trebilcock

Lisa Trebilcock never planned on being a children’s author, but she found her way to writing by taking a local course in children’s writing in 2000, where she realized that she wanted to leave her daughters a memory book of their hometown. N is for Naples began in that class, was published in 2012, and is now one of the most recognized local books in Southwest Florida. Lisa published E is for Everglades in 2014, and both are celebrations of the special plants, animals, places, and people you can find in South Florida.

N is for Naples is also an extension of the work Lisa has been doing as a long-time volunteer at Sea Gate Elementary for its Young Authors, Young Artists event. She also volunteers as a guest educator at the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples, guiding kids through the writing and publishing process.

N is for Naples and E is for Everglades are ideal storybook gifts for pre- and early readers, for tourists and residents alike, and for all parents, caregivers, and educators who want to share some of the fun, interesting, and sometimes surprising local people and places.

Jacqueline Buyze

While A Story of Lawyers may not strike you at first as being a fun and interesting children’s book, Jacqueline Buyze’s quick wit, joy, and love for her profession and her colleagues will win you over immediately. She was inspired to write the book, and its companion about judges, A Story of Lawyers with Views From the Bench, when she realized that her nephew had no idea what she meant when she said she was a lawyer. Lawyers are often misunderstood and seldom appreciated for the ways that they strengthen our democratic processes and help protect our rights. In fact, Jacqueline worked in conjunction with the Florida Bar Law-Related Education Committee and iCivics organization to make sure that A View from the Bench included the components of the State of Florida’s approved civics curriculum.

Although children with lawyers in the family will appreciate these books, librarians, teachers, and anyone interested in the basics of how U.S. government works will find them to be a useful tool to get kids interested in civics and civic responsibility. Jacqueline also has a book – A Joyful Royal Debut: Presenting Prince George! – that is a sweet memento and message to any family expecting the arrival of a baby.

Robin Mizwa

When faced with what to do with the mountains of candy her daughter received at each birthday and holiday party, Robin Mizwa used a fairy story to help encourage her daughter to make healthier choices by trading her bag of candy for a different kind of prize – a coloring book, a small stuffed animal, or a game, for instance. The Story of the Sugar Fairies explains how the Sugar Fairies come to reward children’s efforts and good choices by exchanging the unnecessary candy (minus a few pieces, of course – no one is being crazy here, people) for some other small joy. The Story of the Sugar Fairies helps caregivers of any kind – grandparents, teachers, or even nurses – to encourage healthy choices from as early as three years old.

Robin’s artistic gifts also include singing, and she models bravery for her daughter through her public performances, and by writing her book. Don’t be afraid to get out there and DO STUFF, especially creative work because, as Robin wisely tells other would- be writers, it doesn’t cost anything to write the book (or song!), so go do it anyway, even if you’re scared.