The Mending Chronicles of Liam and Emily has been an effective tool for many families who have been through divorce as well as for therapists who work in this field. Now an eBook launch is about to happen.
Juliette Ras, Child counsellor (M.Th Child Counselling), writes, “I love to use this book in the Play Therapy process with children, and highly recommend it as a resource to parents to support their children on the divorce recovery journey. Whenever I’ve read the story of Liam and Emily to kids of divorced parents, some respond in tears, but they are all intrigued and are able to interact with their own emotions. I found they are in a much better place to come to a place of acceptance and healing.”
Paperback to eBook
Since publication in 2019, ‘The Mending Chronicles of Liam and Emily’ has been in paperback format only. The concept has always been to provide a safe space for kids to process their own divorce journey on the lovely, wide, letter size pages. The feel has been that of a scrapbook or journal where doodles and scribbled notes are recorded and lots of colouring and exploration happens. But this kind of publication comes at a cost, especially post Covid, with rising printing and paper prices in the publishing world.
The idea of an eBook has always been on the back burner. The Mending Chronicles team has toyed with thoughts on how to create that same interactive feel and safe space but it has never quite settled clearly until now. After putting our heads together, we came up with a brilliant plan and the eBook version started to take shape.
So, what will it look like?
‘The Mending Chronicles of Liam and Emily’ is firstly a story about siblings Liam and Emily, and how they navigate and process their parents’ divorce. The story translates easily into eBook format, with the text and lovely illustrations presenting well digitally. On the other hand, the activity pages, where all the magic happens for the reader, needs to be consumable. We therefore converted these fun pages into downloadable and printable PDFs. They are still the same colourful and attractive pages, just digital and more accessible now. You gain access to these pages once you have purchased a copy of the eBook.
And the benefits?
There are some great benefits. One of the situations we found crop up often was that a parent that had several kids couldn’t afford to buy a paperback book for each child in the family. So, they bought one copy and the family shared it. Now with a digital version, a parent like this could buy a (much cheaper) digital version of ‘The Mending Chronicles of Liam and Emily’ and share it across the family’s devices and the necessary PDFs can be printed for everyone to do.
Furthermore, therapists and teachers who have used ‘The Mending Chronicles of Liam and Emily’ effectively, can now use the printable PDFs over and over again. This makes this resource helpful and worthwhile in these contexts.
Don’t forget shipping costs! Getting ‘The Mending Chronicles of Liam and Emily’ paperback to less connected countries has been a struggle. Countries like Namibia have shown interest but by the time shipping and handling costs have been added, the costs are so ramped up and it’s almost not viable for shoppers. Without a doubt, an eBook edition is going to be very convenient.
How do we get a copy?
Poppy Seed Publishers uses the biggest book distributor so it will be available on most online eBook retailers all over the world. (We are always grateful for nice reviews, so please remember to leave a review on your shopping platform. 😊) Get your copy with this link: https://books2read.com/mendingchronicles
When is this all happening?
Launch date in 1 March 2023. Yay! We are excited to share our new eBook version with you. We trust that your family can find hope and healing within its digital pages.
This is incredible, Natalie! Your diligence is evident. Your goal to help as many as you can with this incredible resource is being fulfilled with every step you take. May God bless the work of your hands and the hearts that open your resource.
Congratulations to the team. I know that there are children who are going to benefit greatly from this book. A tool for them on the hard sad road to acceptance and forgiveness. Not just divorce, any trauma. To empower. To help them know they have some control over their lives, even if it’s just deciding how to behave and what to think. To know they are not alone and that there is hope and eventually healing.