Children's Author Daniella Bozzone
As an adult, long hard days, strenuous workloads and busy lifestyles can bog us down, weaken our good attitudes and thankfulness for another day.
Sometimes it’s hard to be positive, to feel grateful for x, y and z, but if there is one thing children’s author Daniella Bozzone is trying to instill in the future adults of the world, it’s just that: be grateful, be positive, and don’t let the little things hold you back.
Through her children’s books, Daniella introduces readers to Lucy Cate, a wise little owl adorned with thick-rimmed blue glasses and a red hooded cape that could signify the super power of gratitude she develops throughout just a few pages.
Titled “Lucy Cate and Her Gratitude Attitude”, the book focuses on helping children ages four to eight take time throughout their days to stop and be thankful for something. It’s as simple as being thankful for their parents, grandparents, friends or pets, their pants, shoes, bed or time at school.“I write things that I wish I had had as a child,” says Daniella. “Gratitude practice is life changing even as an adult, and the earlier you learn that the better.”
Children often get swept up in what others have, what they wear, what they got for Christmas, and so on. Instilling the thoughtfulness of being grateful for what you have, what you see, and what you can be is a priceless asset for children to develop early on in life. Envy doesn’t help you grow, but having a gratitude attitude from the get-go will be outstandingly helpful for them as they become adults.
“Children see an adventure through Lucy Cate’s eyes that turns her attitude around,” says Daniella. “And learn to they start their day with three thank you’s.” The final page of “Lucy Cate and Her Gratitude Attitude” features a blank space for children to interact with the story and write their own thank you’s, a good start to an incredible daily practice.
Both of Daniella’s books are hand illustrated in pencils, watercolor and inks by Daniella herself, a wearer of many hats. Inspired by “Calvin and Hobbes” throughout her childhood and her mother’s vintage “Peanuts” books from the ‘40s, cartooning has always been a passion of hers.
“I’ve always been artsy fartsy,” she says. “And I knew I always wanted to do this.”
Daniella’s second children’s book “Beauty Salad” focuses on being bullied, a hot topic for school children that never seems to cease. This second illustrative book reintroduces Lucy Cate with a new friend, a little cat named May Pearl.
When we first meet May Pearl, she’s been picked on by the mean girls at school, and Lucy Cate, with her ever-grateful attitude teaches May Pearl that instead of focusing on the bullies, she should focus on herself.
Lucy Cate tells her, “So, May Pearl, I want to say / That if you seek and strive away / At something that you make or learn / Mean words will have no lasting burn.”
Teaching children not to ignore bullies per se, but to put their attention towards learning something new, working on a new skill, something fun, the bully’s words will mean less and less as children, like May Pearl, develop their own strengths to overcome the bully in their own way.
Bettering the lives of children throughout the Chattanooga area, Daniella has done readings through Literacy Nights at the Creative Discovery Museum, private preschools on Signal Mountain, and the Signal Mountain Library.
“Reading at schools are the most fun for me,” she says. “Kids are so thankful for the funniest things.”
Her books are available through local shops like Starline Books, The Learning Express, and Mountaintop Toys as well as on Amazon.
Visit her website at daniellabozzoneauthor.com for free coloring pages to download and print for kids, and keep an eye out for a blog there in the near future.
And teachers, she is also happy to do readings at in the Chattanooga area.Shining a bright light on positivity in so many ways for the future of our children, Daniella is making a difference one Lucy Cate story at a time.