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The intention of PAWsom PALS is to apply my unique gifts and experiences to creating for the higher good of others.

As an educational professional, I know the power of books. I have found that a good story is often the perfect way to set the stage for teaching a new objective. Through discussing the story and characters, the educator can bring in important points that inform the topic and broaden it appropriately for the age group of the audience. Humble Heroes is a good fit with the attention span of young children, and also the amount of time a firefighter typically has for a classroom visit amongst all the responsibilities required of a first responder.

The book activities provide the opportunity to extend the lesson and reinforce it whether by the fire professional, the classroom teacher, or parent.

The other content on this website is offered as a product of my professional experiences as a public school teacher, grades 2 - 12. Recommendations are based on frontline, in-the-trenches involvement in classrooms with students of varied ages and abilities. Hopefully the resources provide value to parents who are here because they purchased the book for their child.

When I decided it was time to leave my teaching career, I had the honor of continuing in an educational role as a fire department public educator. As a team, we worked to reach all age groups from pre-school to older adults on life safety topics relevant to our community. However, not many fire departments have the resources to do as much as they’d like with public safety. Taxpayer funds must be allocated to life-saving equipment, tools, protective gear, and training. I hope this small step towards supporting efforts to bring fire safety to young children will aid those who endeavor to do so. If you are inspired to help, please consider buying a book to donate to your local fire station.

For children under the age of 5, fire play is the leading cause of fire death. Thus, it is the theme for Humble Heroes.

I have already written other PAWsom PALS books meant to reach children through lovable characters while teaching an important safety lesson. Whether those stories will be published is unclear. I trust that the path will unfold naturally and I remain open to whatever that is.

When I started this journey I knew absolutely nothing about any of the steps or processes to get to this moment. Also, I had to learn several applications creators use and for me, it was hard. I approached it one step at a time, and just kept going. The book isn’t perfect, but it is a place to start, to learn from, and from which to grow if that is what I’m meant to do.