In this episode we talk with Laura Sassi about her newest book My Tender Heart Bible and her other books that help children delight in the truths of God’s word.
Our Guest: Laura Sassi
Laura Sassi has been a teacher, homeschool mom, children’s ministry director and more, but her passion is for telling stories in rhyme and prose. She is the author of nine books for young children including the best-selling Goodnight, Ark, which was a 2015 Christian Book Award Finalist; Goodnight, Manger; Love Is Kind, which was a 2020 Anna Dewdney Read Together Award Honor Book; Little Ewe and Bunny Finds Easter. Happy Birthday Christmas Child released this past fall and two more, My Tender Heart Bible and My Tender Heart Prayer Book, are on the way in 2023. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, two almost-grown children and a cockapoo named Sophie.
Books Discussed in This Episode:
Transcript with Links:
Terrie:
Welcome to “Books That Spark,” a podcast for parents and caregivers, celebrating books that help us with everyday discipleship, every day, sparking important conversations with our children. We have a wonderful guest with us, Laura Sassi. She has been with us before, but she has some wonderful books coming out that I can’t wait for her to share with you. Well, Laura, thank you so much for joining us today.
Laura:
Thank you so much for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Terrie:
Your newest book has just launched and I’m so excited to talk about it. I read the whole thing and left a review and I think it’s just wonderful. So can you tell us about this new book?
Laura:
Well, my newest book, it’s something new for me. It’s a collection of 12 of my favorite Bible stories, six from the Old Testament and six from the New Testament told in rhyme for littlest ones, but that individually and together sort of show God’s redemptive love. It’s called My Tender Heart Bible, and I know your viewers are listening and not watching, but it has an absolutely delightful cover illustrated by Sandra Eide. She did a wonderful job inside and outside, and it’s published by Paraclete Press.
Terrie:
And I just love that each story ends with this beautiful little short prayer that we can pray with the children. And I thought it was just so nicely done.
Laura:
Oh, thank you so much. You know, that was intentional. There’s several things that I wanted to include and I did it very purposefully. So of course each story has a title and then underneath it there’s a biblical citation, so families and kids can know that this just isn’t any story, they can go and read the story in the Bible. And when my kids were little, and I teach Sunday school now, it’s really important for me that the kids know that these stories come from the Bible, that this is God’s word and that they can go and dig into God’s word, so I wanted to make sure I included that. And then as you said, then there’s a beautiful illustration to go with each story, each story takes up a full spread. And then that heart moment at the end, that again, was something when my kids were little, I would read Bible stories with them and sometimes I’d retell them. But it seemed like to make the connection, I always try to do something to sort of make a connection to their experience, and I guess I would call that like the heart moment. That is the response, that it’s just a little help for parents reading it with their kids to maybe if they can’t think of a response, there’s the response. Just the overwhelming response, a prayer of thanks for each story.
Terrie:
I thought it was just beautiful. And I have to say that you are a master at rhyming and rhythm. It is so hard to read a book out loud to a child when the rhythm or the rhyme is wonky. I call it chunky or clunky, but yours, they just flow so beautifully. It’s almost like a song and it’s just so easy to read aloud, I just appreciate that so much. You’ve really done a meticulous job of creating something that’ll just bless children and bless parents. And I just think it’s really well done.
Laura:
Oh, thank you so much. I’ve been rhyming for a long time. I actually have, my mother saved some early rhymes of mine, which were clunky, chunky, as you were describing them. But over time, it’s a combination I think of you need to have an ear for it, but you also need to have an understanding of what diversification is and that it’s not just about, I think where people get tripped up when they’re writing it is they think it’s just about the rhyme, but it’s also about the meter and the rhythm and being consistent with that, and then it’s also about coming up with fresh rhymes. So I gave myself as a gift for my birthday quite a few years ago now, a rhyming dictionary. And I love my rhyming dictionary, comes in very handy
Terrie:
That’s cool. Well it is wonderful, and I love your other books too, but to see so many Bible stories written so well and you capture the message, I’ve seen some other rhyming Bible story books that they don’t tell enough of the story. It’s all about just this rhyme-y thing, you know? And it’s not enough of the gospel. It’s not enough of how this story is so wonderful, and I feel like you’ve captured both. You’ve captured the rhyme and rhythm and meter, but you’ve also captured the story. And you can just tell God blessed you as you wrote this. I just really think it’s wonderful.
Laura:
Oh, thank you. You know, it was like a prayerful endeavor. It really became, as I was writing this, I spent so much time going into my Bible and looking up cross referencing things, and I mean, God really blessed me in that, seeing the stories in new ways and then just putting it all together. It really was a very special process.
Terrie:
And you have a companion book coming out to this, right?
Laura:
I do. So I sent them the pitch for this story, the rhyming Bible story, My Tender Heart Bible. And they said, oh, well how about, would you also like to do a companion prayer book? So in the Fall, and I’ve just seen the cover, but it’s not out yet. I think they’re still making some changes to it. In the Fall, there’s going to be My Tender Heart Prayer Book, and that is 24 prayers, short prayers in Rhyme, again with a Bible citation to go with 24 prayers to take a child through the day and foster conversations with God.
Terrie:
Oh, I love that. Oh, that’s so cool. I can’t wait to see it. So it’ll be out this Fall 2023. We’ll have to talk about it.
Laura:
Oh yes. I can’t wait. So it’s the same illustrator. So it’s going to be Sandra Eide again, and a similar palette. I can tell from the colors, we have similar color tones, but modern children.
Terrie:
Oh, okay. Oh, that’s wonderful.
Laura:
Doing modern things, going to nursery school, going to the supermarket with their mothers, all the kinds of things my kids did, exploring the lady bugs and Insects on the sidewalk. Different prayers to reflect on God’s goodness throughout the day.
Terrie:
That’s wonderful. So these will be really great for parents to use. We talk, you know, a lot on “Books That Spark” about discipling our kids and how important it is to start from their youngest years, helping them to understand God and the Bible and what it means to be a follower of Christ. And I think these two books will just be so great to help parents begin that process with their kids.
Laura:
Oh, absolutely. And all my other books thus far have been picture books. So you sit down in one sitting and you read the book and then you come back, and I think I know some of them are read over and over again. I learned that as a parent, but these two books, both of My Tender Heart Bible and the Prayer Book, are not really intended to sit down and read the whole thing. It’s meant to be by your child’s bedside table or maybe in the car and just read a story, and there’s so many things to do with that. And then, yes, go through that discipling process. And it’s not to replace a Bible, this is just like the introduction. That’s why I wanted the Bible verses to be there so that you could go and show them and then they can hopefully start reading on their own. I teach first through third graders in Sunday school and they all bring their Bibles in every week. And we always look up something in the Bible and they love doing that, and that’s part of preparing hearts, I think, to dig in.
Terrie:
Yeah, I agree. Yes, that’s so great. I do love that you have that reference there that makes it quick for a parent. If they can’t remember where this story is, they can find it very quickly and read it. I think that’s wonderful. And then we did feature your Christmas book that launched in December. Can you tell us a little about that one that just came out in 2022, right?
Laura:
Yes. Oh, thank you so much for featuring it. Yes, so I had a new Christmas book out this year also with Paraclete Press, which is the same press as has done the The Tender Heart line here. And it’s called Happy Birthday Christmas Child, and it’s a board book for littlest ones, a counting board book, counting up to 10 Tiny Toes is the last one.
Terrie:
So cute.
Laura:
A Christmas story inspired by feeling busy and rushed. My kids are old now, they’re 18 and 22. But when they were little, little like that, I was feeling so rushed. What, there was no time to stop back and really think about what Christmas was about. But Mary in Luke 2:19, if I remember this correctly, said she pondered these things in her heart and treasured them in her heart. So my hope is sort of that this book, because little ones like to count and point you slow down when you’re doing that, and I just kind of picture the parent and the child just enjoying the Christmas story in that way.
Terrie:
Yeah, it’s really a wonderful book. Well, I just love all your books. I was looking back at your list and I’m like, oh yes, I remember. Oh, the opera one. That’s one of my favorites. You have to tell us about that one again.
Laura:
Oh! Alright. So Diva Dolores and the Opera House Mouse. So Dolores is a seal and she’s making her debut in the opera and frankly she could use a little help, and this little mouse named Fernando, the Opera House Mouse, has offered to help, but she thinks she deserves bigger help than a mouse. And that one’s also written in rhyme, which is my favorite way to write. And it’s really an ode to collaboration and friendship and working out. Dolores really isn’t very kind to Fernando, and Fernando stands up for himself, and they work it out and they end up being able to perform together on stage at the end, and the rhyme for that was a lot of fun. It has a little bit of a wonky part on purpose, which is in the illustrations where she’s singing a little bit off key on many of the spreads. And when I do school visits, I mean I’ve had a hundred kids all singing those with me, which is a lot of fun.
Terrie:
Well you mentioned school visits and that is one thing I wanted to talk about with you because I watch on Facebook and the different social media and it looks like your school visits have to be a total blast with the hats and all that you do. So tell us about your school visits that you do, how people can contact you if they would like to have you come share.
Laura:
Oh, sure. So I have a website, laurasassitales.wordpress.com, and there’s a contact tab there. You can reach me, I can probably give you the link that can be part of this at the end, but you can reach me through that. So I do in-person visits. My visits are really preschool through grade two, I would say would be the max age just for the kind of books I write. I especially love coming to Christian schools and Christian preschools where I can share God’s love through story, and for each book I’ve had the hat you’re referring to, Bunny Finds Easter was my Easter book last year, and I made this outrageous hat with big bunny ears and a carrot and a bird’s nest and all these things sitting glued to it, And I wore that when I read the story Bunny Finds Easter. And that was a big hit. So, uh.
Terrie:
I just loved it. I thought That’s so great.
Laura:
And for My Tender Heart Bible, I can’t read the whole book in a school visit. It’ll be too much, cause it’s not intended to be all read at one sitting, so I had two on vinyl banner material. My local independent printing shop printed two of the spreads for me in 24 by 36 format, and so we hold those up and the kids can come up and point and touch different things and then we have some motions that go with it, but I also like to take the older ones through how a book comes to be.
Terrie:
Oh, nice.
Laura:
I know, it’s fun, I love school visits. I was a teacher in a former life, so that might be one reason I love school visits so much.
Terrie:
Yeah. I’m a teacher too, so I totally understand. Well, and because we are in February and coming up on Valentine’s Day, we have to talk about your book about love, it’s so well done. And my brain just went blank, what is it called?
Laura:
It’s called Love is Kind.
Terrie:
That’s it, yes.
Laura:
Inspired by 1st Corinthians 13. And it’s published by Zonderkidz. Oh, I love it, it’s one of my favorites to read at school visits. And on the cover you’ll see this little owl. He has saved up his own money and he’s going to get his grammy, He wants to get his grammy a heart shaped box of chocolates for her birthday, but he loses his money at the beginning of the story and all his efforts to get the chocolate are thwarted. But over the course of the spreads, as he’s on this quest to get grammy her heart-shaped gift, he shows all the different aspects of that famous passage from 1st Corinthians. Love is patient, love is kind, love rejoices in the truth, and they’re in the illustrations. And then at the end he arrives empty winged, of course empty-handed. Grammy helps him to see that he showed love and kindness along the way with all the things he did, and that was better than chocolate. And then he sees, spoiler alert, that his face is a heart shape and realizes that he was the gift when he showed love and kindness. I just did a Valentine’s story time at one of our local libraries earlier this week and it was so fun, the message really resonates with kids and their caregivers. It’s a message you can never get enough of.
Terrie:
That’s true, very true. Well, it seems to me when I look at your books and read them, that you’re sharing the word of God and the love of God, but in a way that just delights little kids, and I think that’s such a gift and so needed today and I appreciate how God has gifted you and the books you’ve written. I’m a huge fan. I think they’re really wonderful.
Laura:
Thank you.
Terrie:
Share a little bit, just briefly, what is your heart about why you write these books? I know you said you’re a teacher, but what is your heart and the reason that you write these children’s books?
Laura:
I just think that you need to reach hearts when they’re young for Jesus. But also there’s a generation of young parents that, for whatever reason, have stepped away from the faith or maybe didn’t grow up in a faith household. But when your child is young, I think parent hearts are tender too, and there’s just a window of opportunity through story to show God’s love and maybe point people in that direction. That’s where my heart is.
Terrie:
Well, thank you for being here. I appreciate it so much.
Laura:
Your podcast is such a blessing. Thank you for having me as one of your guests.
Terrie:
Thank you for joining us for “Books That Spark,” where we encourage each other to live out every day discipleship, helping to equip our children to follow Christ with their whole hearts. If you enjoyed this episode, please like and share on social media so people know we’re here or leave a review on one of the podcast host sites that would mean so much to us and we really appreciate it. If you would like to connect with Laura, you can reach her at her website, which is laurasassitales.wordpress.com, and I’ll have that link in the show notes, and she has the opportunity for you to invite her for in-person visits, school visits, church visits, preschool visits. She does a great job of keeping the children engaged and enjoying the books together. It’s just wonderful. And if you would like to connect with me, you can reach me at terriehellardbrown.com. You can also find the show notes in the links at this same website, and we would love to hear from you. You can post a comment on the blog post, ask a question, and we respond to every question and every comment. We pray that you feel empowered as a parent or caregiver to walk by faith and to embrace everyday discipleship every day with the children in your life.
Your Host: Terrie Hellard-Brown
Terrie Hellard-Brown writes and speaks to help children and adults find God’s purpose and plan for their lives. She teaches workshops and writes devotional books, children’s stories, and Christian education materials.
Her podcast, Books that Spark, reviews children’s books that spark imagination, emotion, questions, and discussion leading to teachable moments with our kids. Her podcast posts each Tuesday morning.
Her blog posts discuss living as a disciple of Christ while parenting our children. She challenges us to step out of our comfort zones to walk by faith in obedience to Christ and to use the nooks and crannies of our lives to disciple our children.
Terrie uses her experiences as a mother of four (three on “the spectrum”), 37 years in ministry (15 in Taiwan), and 32 years teaching to speak to the hearts of readers.
Her motto is “Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be WONDERFUL” and keeps her childlike joy by writing children’s stories, delighting over pink dolphins, and frequently laughing till it hurts.
