The Penny and the Magic Puffball series started as bedtime stories designed to encourage my daughter to love her natural puffy hair. In this second installment of the Penny and Magic Puffballs book series, Penny witnesses bullying and learns the valuable lesson of being a friend in a time of need. Girls can be mean sometimes and this story is meant to encourage kindness, especially to those who may need a friend. In this book, Penny models compassion and courage by befriending Roxie and trying to stop Bianca’s bullying behavior. Her puffballs help her come up with a great idea and create magic in someone else's day. Penny also shares the enduring message that “It’s ok to be different†with her new friend Roxie.
Penny and the magic puffballs was born out of my love for my daughter Paris, and my desire for her to feel comfortable, confident and secure in her skin. She questioned why her hair was different from all of the other girls and wondered why she couldn’t wear her hair like theirs. I wanted her to know that different didn’t mean bad, different was special. I also wanted to make sure that she saw main characters of color in books. So I created Penny and the magic puffballs originally as a bedtime story and decided to turn the stories into a series of books. In these books, Penny's fun adventures reinforce self-acceptance, empowerment , kindness and friendship.
Praise for Penny and the magic puffballs – Volume 1 Amazon Bestseller and 5 Star Review
“Great uplifting story and good for anyone to learn lessons on accepting yourself as isâ€
“Empowering story and a confidence builderâ€
Selected by Essence Magazine as one of “Books all black children should readâ€
Chosen by MSNBC/The Grio as one of the†Most Inspiring children’s booksâ€