<\/p>\n
A story about a friendly tortoise who likes to dress up and decorate her shell sounds like a cute children\u2019s book, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tortoise and the Flair\u201d is that, but it also dives into a deeper issue: depression.<\/p>\n
While not using that term directly, Julieta, the tortoise with the flair, sometimes wants to retreat into her shell and stay there.<\/p>\n
In her third children\u2019s book, Brooke Smith addresses the issue with sensitivity and in terms children and their parents can understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cJulieta is feeling low,\u201d the book reads. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t know why, and she doesn\u2019t need a reason to feel this low. The feelings just come along all on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two friends of Julieta come to ask how she\u2019s doing. She tries to dress up and act with her usual bravura, but they realize she doesn\u2019t feel well.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank and Joe see past Juliet\u2019s smile and her colorful mud-lipstick and also her flashy sash. Frank and Joe see emptiness in Julieta\u2019s eyes, and they feel her sad energy, and so they simply sit with Julieta. They hold her tortoise foot and they talk.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause even though Frank and Joe understand that Julieta isn\u2019t feeling her sparkle right now, she will feel it again when she knows that she had friends she can trust, just like they trust her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith said she wanted to write a book that addresses children\u2019s feelings without making them scared of depression. The book was inspired in part by her family\u2019s pet tortoise, which she brought to a recent event at Pine River Library that featured local authors and artists.<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s previous works are \u201cThe Mango Tree,\u201d published in 2018, and \u201cBrinley Discovers Santa, A Bold Introduction to the Meaning Behind Santa Claus,\u201d her first book, from 2015.<\/p>\n
On her website, Smith said she writes children\u2019s books to foster conversation. The mango tree grows while discovering inspiration and development from somewhere within itself, but also from the surrounding world. In Smith\u2019s first book, Brinley faces some hard facts and makes a choice to participate in random acts of kindness and to carry forward the true spirit of Santa every day.<\/p>\n
Smith said she writes children\u2019s books to promote conversations with young readers.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren are open and willing to talk,\u201d she wrote on her website. \u201cThey are able to be vulnerable, still. They want to share. They want to be heard. They want to know that we care, that they have a place to explore their opinions and feelings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the reason for my stories. To talk, to open the conversation, to be vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n
She will hold a reading from \u201cThe Mango Tree\u201d at 10 a.m. Jan. 12 at Dolores Public Library, then at 1 p.m. at Mancos Public Library. Her readings of \u201cThe Mango Tree\u201d often include a snack and craft, where children create their own picture of a mango tree.<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s website is bucketofwonders.com<\/a>. Her blogspot is wonderstormproductions.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Her books are available at Maria\u2019s Bookshop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018The Tortoise and the Flair\u2019 3rd book by Bayfield\u2019s Brooke Smith<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[44],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-96363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-dolores"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96363"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=96363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}