The Story of You

By Gerald Schaefer

The Story Of You is a colorful and educational picture book for young children. The book focuses on teaching children about their surroundings in different ways, from taking a moment to look around and appreciate nature and what it does for us as humans, to learning to love and accept themselves, no matter how different they feel in comparison to others. It's a simple way of explaining the importance of their inner selves and how to keep it as happy as possible. The focus of who you are on the inside and becoming comfortable in your own skin is a message that is vital to instill in children as early as possible.

Though short, it is jam-packed with feel-good content, and children will both love and learn from it.

Among the lessons is a crucial one about how to know when they are safe. It's important for them to realize that they have a built-in "sensor" that helps them to recognize danger, whether it's a situation or a person. Their body reacts with heightened awareness, accompanied by a tingly or creepy feeling. Additionally, the author brings in the idea of a "Sky Self" to explain to children how they have an "inner self" protecting them in all kinds of situations.

Another thing they learn is that thoughts are not real. This may come as a welcome surprise to them, knowing that, whatever thoughts they are conjuring up in their heads, they are just thoughts, nothing else.

The illustrations are simple and creative, which will surely attract the attention of the young reader. The drawings were done by a 3rd grade class of students at Lafayette Elementary School in Long Beach, California. The author had read a text-only copy to the students (they also had a copy at their desks) at a career day, and afterwards, the students complained: "Where's the pictures?" He told them they could draw pictures for it. They did just that, turning in their drawings weeks later.

This book will be highly beneficial to any child. It will fill parents with confidence knowing their child is prepared for the future and learning to appreciate the environment.

To sum up, The Story of You tells young reader that not only do they live in a marvelous world with brilliant things like dogs and cats and trees, but they're also wonderful and beautiful in their own right with a "sky self" invisible but always there to look out for them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gerald Schaefer
• Release date: Oct 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781605717098

Gerald Schaefer

Schaefer grew up in Cut Bank, Montana, a town close to Alberta, Canada, Glacier National Park, and the Blackfoot Indian Reservation. His best friend at St. Margarets school was a Blackfoot, "Beaver" Bird. The Bird family offered a window into a different version of family life, one very different from the German/Scandinavian one he inhabited. Beaver's mother, Wizzie," seemed to be always happy, smiling and laughing.He attended St. Norbert High School, a Catholic boarding school in Wisconsin. He joined the Norbertine monastery after high school. Four years later, he joined the army for a short stint. After graduating from St. Norbert College in 1965, he studied theology at Marquette University. He taught theology at Ottumwa Girls'College for a semester then went to study at the University of Iowa.He and his wife divorced in 1974 while living in Madison, Wisconsin. He lived in Merrill, Wisconsin for a few years, becoming an amateur clown before moving to Long Beach, California in 1979. He left behind two young children. He remarried in 1981 and soon began teaching for the Los Angeles Unified School District, retiring in 2000.His first book, Women: Down Through The Ages, How Lies Have Shaped Our Lives, was published in 2007. In 2008 he read Eckhart Tolle's book, The Power of Now. He immediately realized that the problems he'd been having in his present marriage resulted from the constant stream of thoughts going on in his mind.Shortly thereafter, his wife had a hip replacement, then spinal surgery. In the aftermath of that, AZ appeared. And from 2013 till her death in 2018, he cared for her at home. He credits Tolle's influence, first for getting his marriage back on track, and then for transforming the experience of caring for his wife. He readily admits, "It would have been impossible for me to do it, without that perspective."That perspective is simply the realization that his identity is not the self that he parades before the world, but is contained within his "inner self," accessible in silence and stillness. When one gets in touch with that, it's "cruise control," as he alludes to in the book for teens.Tolle's influence is on display in his writing. First, The Story of You, an illustrated book for young children, published in 2019.Again, Cruising through The Teens, Easier Than It Seems, in 2021. And, Isn't It Kind Of Funny That..., published in 2021.He loves to travel, going to Spain and France in 2019, to Australia in 2020. Wherever he went, he made it a point to check out the local discos. And dance.He presently lives in the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach. The Pacific Ocean is nearby, as are shops and restaurants. He walks to the weekly Farmers Market with his dog, Emma, a papillon rescue. The market is near a large grassy area. Local bands play, families picnic, kids from a nearby school come, and he gets a chance to indulge in his favorite activity, dance.Life is good.

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