A collection of stories from published children's books written by Daria Kathleen Sherman PhD are featured in these pages.Each story addresses life situations that most children will encounter. Guidance and comfort is provided in topics such as divorce, death, bullying, connecting with nature, second child, and managing feelings. Many stories are magical, inspirational, and empower the child by reminding them how beautiful and powerful they are. Children are reminded to connect with the inner light that knows. The Rylie Girl series includes the original writings from my daughter Erika at the age of 12. Zebra Tales was inspired from the musings of my son Paul when he was 8 years old.The messages in each story empowers a child to self-love, and acceptance. Tools are given to assist a child in dealing with their emotions, and life challenges. A deeper context is revealed regarding the nature of Divinity yet described using simple words, and ideas.

This Journey called Life, is a compilation of poems that seek to make sense of the obstacles that we encounter in life, the questions we have, the people we encounter and the overall experiences we have in Life. Some of the poems are lighthearted in nature and will have you smiling, some will have you questioning while others will pick at your heartstrings just as in Life.

A Journey Called Life is Gladys' story from birth to retirement. She discusses the following challenges during her life: her speech defect, loss of her first child, becoming a teacher, her son's involvement with drugs, her Mom's Alzheimer's, and her daughter's brain surgery. Before the death of her first child, she believed God planned and controlled everything in one's life. However, to her God is loving and caring not a punishing God or one to fear. Why would God take her first baby away from her when he was just two weeks old. After much grieving and soul searching, she changed her philosophy to although God is all powerful, he chooses not to use that power to interfere with nature. God might have a plan for your life. However, everything that happens to you is not God's plan or fault for he allows nature to exist as he created the world. In other words, illnesses and health problems are just a part of our world. God created a beautiful world but it is not perfect because God made people human not perfect. However, God is always there to help you through difficult times. Wiley's children invovement with drugs introduced her to Al-Anon. There she learned that worry is optional and one can experience negativity or anger without becoming negative or angry. She discovered that detachment is not caring less but caring more for your own serenity. She found out that no situation is too difficult to be bettered or any problem too great to be lessened. Wiley also writes about her travels to Virgin Islands, Tahiti, Hawaii, out West, and Alaska. Journaling has become very important to Wiley. She includes ponder questions at the end of each chapter to challenge her readers to think about the meaning of life, journal about their own lives, and grow as individuals.

This is a one-of-a-kind, emotion-packed book which resonates with a broad range of readers. The book itself consists of three key parts; a poetry collection, short reflective pieces of writing and lastly self-affirmations. Each chapter is given a short introduction to allow the reader to gain a simple understanding before they dive deeper into the chapter itself. This book is especially dedicated to high school kids, young adults, and adults alike. The author recalls the transition from primary to high school; it was surely exciting but nerve-racking at the same time. Being a young adult with new responsibilities and perhaps a first-time job can be an overwhelming occurrence for some. Similarly, being an adult with much more life experience, roles and responsibilities can make a person feel burnt out and overburdened. As you make your way through this book, you will realise that you are not alone in how you feel. The poems initially reflect negative emotions such as stress, anxiety and feeling like a burden. Slowly the poems change to feelings of hope and healing followed by being grateful, exploring life and what an ideal home would look like. It is important that you understand that every human being will undergo both negative as well as positive life experiences and from both we can learn ‘life lessons. These lessons will shape the way we are as a person as well as our future. I hope reading this book brings you the calm that writing it brought to me. Happy reading.

This poetry book is all about the journey of a soul in a human form. The purpose of our birth is not to taste success and enjoy materialistic gains. The final destination and achievement of a soul ought to be wisdom, advancement and evolution. However, shunning ‘Karma’ can’t be envisaged by humans. The more a soul goes through experiences and hardships, the more refined and evolved it becomes. So, all the stages in a human life such as birth, youth and old age have been covered in this book. Sonnets having emotions and memories of childhood, exuberance of youth, love life, the carnal desires and betrayal alongwith philosophies on life have been penned down in lyrical form for your reading. The poet has tried to underpin the fact that every experience in this life, positive or negative, is a gain. A big loss sometimes renders more returns than a small win. Our soul is going to get evolved with each passing day and her ultimate aim is to spread positivity in this universe. So, let’s embark upon the emotional and philosophical journey of life by means of some thought provoking poetry in this book.

Looking for some thoughts to chew on? Are you on a constant quest for self-discovery? Do you love reading about feminism? Look no far. This anthology has an eclectic mix of poems, delving deep into each of these aspects and, more importantly, seeking the truth hidden inside us. Written in simple language, these poems will provide you with intellectual nourishment, leave you introspecting important aspects of human nature and make you feel emotional. Coming directly from the heart of the author, they are expressions of her beliefs and life learnings.

Having searched these long and lonely years, for “a new kind of normal”, I realized that with recognition of life gone there was realization of new beginnings, without guilt, through the process of creating new, sweet, precious memories. Realizing there is HOPE, JOY and PEACE, knowing without a doubt that my heavenly Father loves me more than life itself. That is where I gained my trust. Normal is different for everyone. For me, there was nothing normal about losing my spouse so suddenly at a young age, but then, what’s normal about a kind, gentle man being crucified, spit upon, beaten until blood ran down his face, hands and sides, cursed, and then left to hang on an old rugged cross while his mother sat and watched, weeping for the loss of her son. It was HOPE, JOY and PEACE knowing her heavenly Fathers hands were holding her. Even though she KNEW it was not a normal kind of death, in the eyes of God, it was right. He ordained it as His will. HIS perfect plan was in place. Now, mine has not been three days, but then again, I am certain that Jesus felt as though it was years as he went through the torture he experienced, uttering those last words, “It is FINISHED.” But GOD had another plan. Completeness came, as He said it would, with His son’s resurrection. It is only by TRUST and FAITH in Him, that you can walk the depths of this darkness.