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How We Turned Grief into Book Week

Grief anniversaries pile up for our family in the fall and early winter. Last year, even as summer was coming to an end, I realized I needed serious help. I had become debilitated by chronic pain and sorrow that had me contemplating suicide. One of the things that got me through that dark time was my grief counselor helping me recognize that though I missed my beloved sister and mother, it was okay to keep living and enjoy the things I love. Like books. In fact, Book Week is all her fault.

With much prayer and my rekindled desire to begin living my life again, I set aside time and energy for two important parts of my life; my business as an author and (of course!) my children. I write my books with my children in mind, creating worlds that I want to share with them. When I realized how grief had overtaken our lives, I tried to think outside the four walls of our home. Though I couldn’t always drive places due to chronic pain and vacations were (at that time) outside my ability, maybe I could celebrate something fun with them over Fall Break. Something we all like to geek out over.

Book Week is Born!

And so, we had our first Book Week. We played quidditch in our yard while raking leaves celebrating our love of Harry Potter. Neighbors saw us run around chasing each other in a hide-and-seek with cyborgs versus Lunars celebrating our love of The Lunar Chronicles. We had sword fights and scaled the walls of our home in celebrating The Ascendence Trilogy. For fun, we invited friends over and ate blue food all day, celebrating Percy Jackson. We concluded the week by going on a short hike with a picnic lunch to celebrate Rapunzel’s misadventures in my books, The Journey series. I was exhausted and fighting pain through the week, but it was so worth it. I was beginning to live life again.

This year, vacation is out of the question for a whole new reason. Though most Americans have hated 2020, I have progressively gotten better as I’ve processed grief, slowly lost some of my grief weight, reduced my number of anxiety attacks, and increased my exercise and outdoor time exponentially. Oh, and that reading and writing thing? I’m about to release another book in my series and I’m sharing more books than ever with my kids.

My kids are now schooling at home because we are still in the middle of a global pandemic. When Fall Break rolled around again with no opportunities to travel, we decided to celebrate several books whose worlds we have loved visiting. Almost literally. Because this year, Book Week is all about what 2020 has lacked: secret portals that take us to different worlds.

The Chronicles of Narnia

One of the places I have found solace in is a “secret” passageway between one side of our neighborhood to another across the creek. My son and I first started taking walks back when I was struggling with suicidal thoughts. I was in desperate need of sunshine and movement and we found this little path to what felt like a magical world. When I told my grief counselor about it, she said we had discovered Narnia.

As a family who loves not only the world of Narnia, but the allegorical message of redemption contained within its story, it seemed perfect to create a book week of portal worlds with a visit to Narnia. You should have seen the looks on our neighbor’s faces as they saw us walking down the street with one of my daughter’s wearing a beard playing a dwarf. What hilarious fun! We each played a favorite character and filmed a sword fight in slow motion that we laughed at later.

The Inner World Series

I first became aware of The Inner World Series when I hopped on Instagram to find out if connecting with the readers in the #bookstagram community would be a good fit for me. Oh, WOW! Talk about geeking out. There are millions of Instagram users daily sharing images and stories all about the books they love. Everyone is a reader and several of us are also writers.

When reader/writer @spacheships_and_dragons began following me, I checked in on her. A young mom, R.L. Medina generously shares upcoming releases of authors she knows as well as fun stories about her family. I loved each time that she gave a sneak peek into her series about a half-elf princess. A high schooler with an anxiety disorder? I can relate. Besides, who doesn’t want to find out they belong to a high caste of elves?

I had fun getting into the series, but I warn all who read them, books 1-2 in this trilogy end with a cliffhanger. The best characters are the ones I’m not sure should be trusted and I love seeing how Medina is growing as a writer. My kids and I had a fun Fae War in our backyard!

Nevermoor

Like most of the books we celebrated, Nevermoor is middle grade fantasy, a secret world of magic that the real world is unaware of. Morrigan Crow is a fascinating little girl who has lived her entire life believing she is cursed. When she is rescued from the normal world, she is taken to Jupiter North’s hotel. Her bedroom recreates itself overnight, always surprising her with what she will wake to. She meets fascinating creatures, discovers hard truths, and makes friends for the first time in her life. But she’s not convinced she isn’t still cursed. Jupiter is determined to be her patron in the Wondrous Society, but Morrigan doesn’t think she has the knack that requires.

Nevermoor has some of the best descriptions of delicious food, so we decided to celebrate the series by going to one of our favorite magical places: Barnes & Noble bookstore and cafe. We ordered rainbow layered cake which was almost to sugary to eat. We also got dark chocolate cupcakes and vanilla bean mini cupcakes. Then we treated ourselves to wandering along the magical aisles of books and dreamed about taking all of the books home. The third book in The Nevermoor series was scheduled to come out in spring 2020, but was rescheduled because of the pandemic. Sadly, we could only order it, but now eagerly anticipate the call that it has come in. That isn’t all bad, anticipation will make us enjoy it that much more!

The Haven Series

If you love Harry Potter and miss his world, I highly recommend diving into the world of Haven. Author S.J. Howland recently came on the scene and has proven just how amazing an indie author can be. She introduces us to a boy named Xander who discovers his talent with crystals when he accidentally uses a travel-ling (yes, I used two “LL”s on purpose, that is the UK acceptable spelling for the first book “The Traveller’s Stone“) stone.

He is whisked away to a world where brownies are tiny people who clean houses (as long as no one is looking). Gnomes control the network of crystals that supply the land with energy. Xander feels very, very lost at first. Taken in by a large, quirky family while the “travellers” try to determine how he is able to use the crystal, he finds his way. Though he misses his mother, he discovers a kinship he’s never known before. This doesn’t stop him from worrying he might be the source of trouble that has come to Haven. Why are the shadows growing? What can he do to help?

Oh my goodness, my children and I devoured this book and eagerly await the upcoming sequel. For our celebration, we went on our favorite hiking path and made sure to take brownies (the kind you can eat) with us. We each played a different character from the series and had a crazy day full of fun misadventures (like getting stuck in the mud!) as we traveled miles due to the fact that our crystal orbs weren’t working. Sigh. We need more magic.

Alice in Wonderland

While all of this fun book craziness was going on, I was also planting a garden. I call it Rapunzel’s Garden and in it is a section in memory of my mommie, whose birthday was on our second book day. I planted a couple of decorative cabbages at the base of her transplanted roses with some memorial stones. Beyond the Tower, my first novel, was dedicated to her. Unlike Rapunzel’s mother, mine would never trade me for a head of lettuce or cabbage.

Despite this solemn note of sorrow, we decided that transferring my mother’s roses would take place on Alice in Wonderland day. My mommies would have loved this. We joked that we should “paint the roses red” to keep the Queen of Hearts from getting angry. Of course, we didn’t, which meant during our mad tea party the queen, played by me, had ample opportunity to declare, “Off with his head!”

My eldest played Alice, my middle daughter the Cheshire Cat, and my son played the White Rabbit who was running late. It was a fun and silly day and I let the kids enjoy a great many cookies. The weather was gorgeous and it was wonderful to look over and see my mother’s roses while we played.

Is Book Week Right for Your Family?

Would book week work for your family? I don’t know. If you have found that certain books minister to you, cause in-depth discussions, or are a great source of entertainment for your family, I say “go for it!” It doesn’t have to be an entire week, it can be a weekend or just one day in which you celebrate the overarching theme or characters from a book or series of books. Go do something fun together, celebrate the life you were blessed with, enjoy time with the people you love. If you need to, spend a little time remembering someone you miss. Whatever you do, allow books to remind you how good life is. You don’t need a secret portal to reach that conclusion, even if you are living in 2020.

My gift to you: If you love clean young adult fantasy and are looking for books to read, sign-up for my newsletter and receive your free copy of Before the Tower, a tale of two sisters, greed, and what led to Rapunzel’s tower.

About JacQueline

As the author of  The Journey series, a young adult fantasy retelling Rapunzel’s misadventures, JacQueline also wrote Memoirs of a Headcase: Held by the God of Hope, to share hope in the battle against chronic pain and depression. Currently she lives in North Alabama with her karate husband and three book-crazy kids. All opinions expressed on this website come from her own experience. Do not substitute it for professional therapy or medical advice. Any affiliate links used on this website will provide additional income to JacQueline’s family at no additional cost to you.

If you are a reader wanting to connect with JacQueline, you can get a free book here. Each month you will receive book recommendations and other booknerd fun.

Are you a writer or an author looking for help? JacQueline has been writing all her life and loves meeting others who think writing is living. As an author coach, helping other writers on their journey gives her joy. Schedule your free coaching call to learn what steps you should take next now.

Photo credit: Chris Lawton, Jenna Anderson, JacQueline Vaughn Roe, Debby Hudson, and girl.