Hi, I'm Janet!

I am so happy you are here. Here's the full story about my inspiration to write"I Love Myself so I Laugh and Giggle."

As a child, I developed a love of reading from my mother and grandmother. My mom read rhymes to me, and I would go around repeating the rhyming words I heard. She also would take me to the library to pick out books of fairy tales. I loved the story of the Ugly Duckling; even though I was so young I felt empathy for the little duck. My grandmother gave me this huge book of stories. The one I remember best is “The Little Engine That Could,” feeling empowered, by the message of resilience. Throughout my teaching career I think these memories showed me the importance of these early experiences.

So much later, as a teacher, I would read the story of the Ugly Duckling and part of that experience was remembering my closeness with my mother as she had read to me as a child. Rhyming as a child gave me a love of playing around with the sounds of language, making up rhymes and silly words. For beginning readers, paying attention to these sounds is an essential part of learning to read while having fun at the same time.

It was difficult for me when I retired from teaching three years ago. Principals and literacy coaches would call me and ask if I could come back even just temporarily. This made me think about the experience and knowledge of teaching reading that I took out of circulation. When I wrote I Love Myself so I Laugh and Giggle, I thought about the early reading skills and words that help little ones begin to read.

I also thought about books that encouraged young children to feel good about themselves and how my students would frequently request books with themes of self-acceptance and love. Reading these books made them so happy. Out of this I created, I Love Myself so I Laugh and Giggle.

It's a happy book. I’m finding that even adults enjoy reading it, in all its simplicity.