Rock On, Kindness! Pass It On!

Rock On, Kindness Pass It On is about a 7-year-old girl named Ally whose favorite hobby is painting and hiding rocks to bring happiness to others.

In the story, Ally creates opportunities for the reader to make predictions and learn new vocabulary as she introduces the reader to her five best friends who will be receiving her painted rocks. The five best friends include Ty, Katie, Noah, Latifa, and Max. Ally explains how she met every friend and notes their uniqueness as these friends differ in terms of race, physical appearance, preferred language, religion, etc. Despite these differences, Ally finds similarities between herself and every friend introduced.

The theme of moving past differences to find common interests and create friendships is reiterated throughout the story.

While thinking of ways to promote and teach kindness to her two young children, author Stepheni Curran happened to find a painted rock at a local park. This rock was painted by a member of the Fox Valley Hidden Rocks group. Out of curiosity, Stepheni joined the Facebook group to learn more about these painted rocks and their purpose. Since joining the group in June of 2017, Stepheni and her children have found over 100 painted rocks designed by members of the Fox Valley Hidden Rocks group and other rock painting groups in Wisconsin. These rocks were hidden in community locations, such as in the story's featured park called O'Hauser Park. The Fox Valley Hidden Rocks group currently has 12,500 members who primarily live in or near the Fox Cities. This act of painting rocks and hiding them for others to find is an inexpensive and simple way to promote kindness, creativity, family bonding, and exercise. Stepheni saw the impact that this fun pastime had on her family as they began going on weekly rock hunts to local parks. The collected rocks were shared on the Facebook page for the Fox Valley Hidden Rocks group and then either added to the family's "rock vase" or given to someone to brighten their day. The Fox Valley Hidden Rocks group helped inspire Stepheni Curran to write a children's book. With a professional background as a pediatric speech-language pathologist, Stepheni incorporated characters into her book to promote the concepts of differences, uniqueness, and similarities. Her hope is to reduce the stigmas found in society related to race, religion, birth defects, etc., by writing about the children that have enriched her personal and professional life.

Author: Stepheni Curran
Publisher: Orange Hat Publishing
Published: 02/10/2018
Pages: 26
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.24lbs
Size: 8.50h x 11.00w x 0.07d
ISBN: 9781948365055
Audience: Ages 4-8

About the Author
Curran, Stepheni: - Stepheni Curran grew up in Antigo, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UW-SP) where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in communicative disorders and a minor in psychology. She then pursued a master's degree in speech-language pathology through UW-Stevens Point. Since graduating in May of 2008, Stepheni has spent her career working in Wisconsin with the pediatric population in settings ranging from outpatient hospital care to the public school setting to inpatient psychiatric care. In her downtime, Stepheni enjoys spending time with her husband and children, reading, writing, and volunteering as a Girl Scout leader. Her first children's book entitled, Rock On, Kindness! Pass It On!, was published in February of 2018 through Orange Hat Publishing. Since March of 2018, Stepheni has toured the state of Wisconsin and has presented at 60 different locations, during her days off work, to promote the themes of kindness, diversity, inclusion, and friendship. Stepheni plans to continue writing and publishing children's books to teach children about the importance of kindness and compassion for others.Williams, Samantha: - Samantha Paine (Williams) is an artist and designer with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Drawing and painting are closest to her heart, but she loves working in all visual art mediums, from sculpture to sewing. She is passionate about turning ideas into something you can hold and look at, and enjoys coming up with sweet, whimsical solutions to visual problems. You can find more of her art at imaginarysam.com.