About Sarah O’Hara ~ Gift of the Fairy Wings
“Sarah O’Hara ~ Gift of the Fairy Wings” is an award winning book about kindness overcoming meanness. The inspiration arose from a need to teach my own children about kindness; specifically to teach my ADHD daughter, at that time 5, how not to bully other children. I knew she had a hard time listening to me, but I also knew the influence stories had on her. She owned a pair of green fairy wings that she often stepped on and mistreated, so I used them as the focal point.
I created a character like my daughter, someone who was careless and inadvertently, not intentionally, mean, like most aggressive kids. She comes into possession of a pair of wings she’s been coveting. Within moments it’s treated with the same disregard as a candy wrapper. She comes into contact with another character; her antithesis, a sweet, unassuming child who has little and wants only to try on the wings. This sets up the conflict and the story unfolds from there. You can also read an excerpt of the story here.
Because of my children, I’m out and about in the kid world. We’re involved with school, sports, church, birthday parties, playdates and an endless array of child centered activities. I’m constantly in conversations with parents who express to me their concerns about an escalating culture of meanness and bullying that basically begins in preschool.
After the story was written I realized it was a great lesson not only for my daughter, but for all children. My heart said, “You’ve got something here. Parents, teachers, grandparents and all child care givers could use this story to reinforce lessons of kindness.” And so the book was born.
“Sarah O’Hara ~ Gift of the Fairy Wings” isn’t the antidote to meanness, kindness is. The book just helps to translate what that means to children. Kids are magnetized by the colorful illustrations and they easily relate to characters that mirror their own lives. It’s an uplifting, self-esteem building message when used along with teaching aids for kindness found in the blog
