Behind the Books

Bye-Bye, tetita: La historia del destete natural de una niña is now available from your favourite bookstores  or ask for it at your local library today.  This Spanish edition is part of the Little Goodbyes collection, a series of picture books about small but meaningful childhood transitions. Like the English edition, Bye-Bye, tetita is told from a child’s point of view and follows the emotional process of natural weaning. The story is about a little girl who is growing, changing, and slowly saying goodbye to breastfeeding in her own time. It is a book about closeness, comfort, and the way love continues even as routines begin to change. From the back cover: Bye-bye, tetita es una tierna historia sobre el destete, contada desde la perspectiva de una niña. Desde los mimos antes de dormir hasta una fiesta con fuegos artificiales en el parque, la historia recorre momentos cotidianos con mamá, llenos de amor y contención. A medida que la niña crece, la lactancia da paso a abraz...

 “Bookstores are lonely forts, spilling light onto the sidewalk. They civilize their neighborhoods.” — John Updike What Is Bookshop? Bookshop.org is an online bookstore that partners with independent bookstores in the United States and the United Kingdom. You can even pick your favourite local bookstore to support through their site while you are shopping from home. Instead of functioning like a typical online retailer, part of its model is designed to support indie bookshops through online sales. Over the past few years, it has become increasingly popular with readers who want another option for buying books online while still supporting independent bookstores and when I saw people talking about it in the forums, I decided to check it out. Why I Started Using It as a Canadian Site Even though we are in Canada, and Canadian bookstores are not included, our traffic and customers are all over the world. But it turns out since our books are distributed through IngramSpark, many of th...

  “Proofreading is a safety net — a final check for errors before publication.” — Martin, Head of Content at Reedsy There’s nothing quite like opening a box and holding a proof copy of your book for the first time. It feels so close to being finished, like the last step before it goes out into the world. But as I’ve learned, those proof copies aren’t just for the excitement they’re needed for catching things that somehow sneak past no matter how many times you’ve read the manuscript or how many editors have reviewed things. When I received my proof copy of Shelved , I thought I knew what to expect. I had gone over every page carefully in LibreOffice, everything looked right in the file, and I uploaded with confidence to IngramSpark. But when the proof arrived, I discovered the page layout had mirrored incorrectly! The page numbers and margins were flipped after the table of contents. Something I hadn’t noticed on screen became glaringly obvious in print. Then came Bye-Bye, Boobies...

“Language is the road map of a culture.” — Rita Mae Brown   From the very beginning, Bye-Bye, Boobies was always going to have three unique English editions Canadian, American, and British, In my work as an IBCLC, I support mums in many different countries. I naturally adjust my care, language, and resources so they fit each family’s everyday life. That might mean using familiar words, matching spelling to their region, or shifting phrasing so it feels natural in their home. Doing the same for my books just made sense. The Canadian edition keeps my original wording and spelling. The U.S. edition changes to American spelling and makes small adjustments for an American ear. The UK edition uses British spelling and everyday expressions that parents there would recognize. Of course, I made sure that none of these changes alter the heart of the book but they make reading aloud feel smooth and familiar for the person holding it. It’s still the same gentle goodbye, the same illustra...

“A book is a dream you hold in your hands.” — Neil Gaiman I opened the box this week and there it was: the proof copy of Bye-Bye, Boobies . A real book. With a cover, a spine, and actual pages I could turn. I’ve seen this story so many times on screen over the last six months, editing spreads, tweaking line breaks, nudging characters into place but nothing compares to holding it in my hands. There’s still a final round of checks to go before it's ready for the world, but this is the moment it all became real. I wrote this book for the families I work with, and for the quiet moments that come when we start saying goodbye to something as big and beautiful as breastfeeding. It’s soft and simple and full of love and now, it’s almost ready to meet you. Stay tuned for the official release date. We’re so close.

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” — Scott Adams Somewhere between the spreadsheets, stanzas, and storyboards... I lost count. When you're self-publishing a picture book, every page matters. Literally. I had carefully mapped out all 32 pages of Bye-Bye, Boobies , laid out each stanza, sketched each scene… and then realized I'd gone over. Not by a little. By a full two-page spread! Of course, it had to be  one of my favourite moments in the book. Soft, quiet, and full of feeling. And I had to cut it. Why? Because I forgot to count my copyright page in my original 32 pages. I hadn't even thought about it until I started the last bit of colouring that I needed to do before ordering proofs.  I even tried a workaround before I removed those pages, I added the copyright block onto my title page but that looked terrible and cramped and I had to reduce the font to such a tiny amount to get all the info in there.   Why t...

  Art is never finished, only abandoned.” – Leonardo da Vinci Today I coloured a dog. That’s it. That’s the post. Okay, not quite but that’s how it felt. This little rottie took more layers than I expected: outline, fill, collar, tongue, then soft brown markings that I repainted… more than once. Then, right when I thought it was great my son mentioned that the head was too large! I'm still learning how to use Krita. Still figuring out which brushes feel right, how to colour in a way that looks soft without smudging everything into one big blur, and it is starting to feel more comfortable to use the different features in the program. Here’s how the layers stacked up and how I've been approaching each layer in the images for my book: Starting with a simple sketch Next is the final outline Onto the colouring starting with black fill (which is really a very, very dark blue) Next came the red collar Onto the tongue which the colours hopefully work once I get a proof copy. Brown high...

“I miss our old home,” I say. “I miss my friends and my garden.” Birdsong, Julie Flett Some goodbyes are quiet. Some are exciting. Some are a bit of both. Moving to a new home is a big change for little ones. It means saying goodbye to familiar rooms, parks, and sometimes even people. But it can also be the start of something new and wonderful and exciting. Here are six gorgeous books to help toddlers and young children explore the feelings that often come with a move. Moving Day by Teri Roche Drobnick & Jennifer Black Reinhardt This one's a bit different because it's told from the perspective of a house that’s being moved from one location to another. It's inspired by the real-life story of moving a 139-year-old, 133-ton Victorian house six blocks  this imaginative story brings fresh perspective to the idea of transition. The house feels nervous, curious, and eventually excited as it rolls toward its new neighbourhood. With whimsical illustrations and a heartfelt tone,...

  "What is essential is invisible to the eye." — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince   If you look closely at our updated logo, you’ll see something familiar and something just a little different. The bunny still sits in the center, gently reaching for a falling maple leaf. The softness is still there. So is the quiet, thoughtful feeling that shaped our very first stories. But the words around the circle have changed slightly. What was once Little Goodbyes is now Little Goodbyes Press  one small shift that marks a bigger step forward. We’ve also changed the text to EB Garamond , a classic book typeface that feels right at home in children’s publishing. It’s simple, timeless, and widely accessible and is the perfect match for the kind of imprint we’re becoming. Adding “Press” may seem like a technical change (and it is, in part. It looks just right on a letterhead or the spine of a book). But it’s also a signal that this imprint isn’t just an idea anymore. It’...

“Not being able to speak is not the same as not having anything to say.” — Rosemary Crossley Picture Books Featuring AAC Users These picture books feature children who use AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) to communicate. They are not about the technology itself, but about everyday moments, identity, and connection. Seeing AAC users in story settings helps normalise diverse ways of communicating and allows more children to feel seen.  As a small press author myself, I know how easily thoughtful, independently published books can be overlooked. It feels important to highlight stories like these, stories that speak quietly and leave a lasting impact. Each of these books comes from a small press or independent creator and offers something rare: authentic representation told with warmth and clarity. Whether you're raising a child who uses AAC, teaching inclusive literacy, or simply building a more thoughtful bookshelf, these stories are worth a closer look. Navigating N...

  “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”  – Arthur Ashe A screenshot of a digital illustration in progress using Krita.  Somewhere between the early sketches and the endless file exports, I realised I’m actually making a real picture book! It’s not finished yet, but I’m far enough in to pause, look around, and take a breath. Here’s what I’ve learned so far: It takes longer than you think Even with a clear vision of what I wanted to see on each spread and (mostly) finished text, the illustration process is slow. Slower still when you’re doing it yourself, by hand, and balancing everything else at home and work. I thought I’d be colouring pages weeks ago. Instead, I spent those weeks getting feedback, refining poses, redrawing bunnies, and adjusting blankets so they looked right across a page fold. Each step adds time and and that’s okay, just a bit surprising. You don’t have to follow the crowd When I made the decision to go from a board book to a pictu...

    “Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.” — A. A. Milne When I first imagined Bye-Bye, Boobies , I thought it would be a board book. One of those short, simple, and sturdy books. You know, the kind of story toddlers could turn over in their hands, maybe even chew on a little. But as I began sketching, writing, and reworking the pacing, the book quietly started asking for more space. Board books are beautiful in their simplicity. Some of my own favourites, like Goodnight Moon , which lives on our shelf beside The Runaway Bunny , say so much with so few words and pages. Still, the story I was working on didn’t quite fit that format. I wanted Bye-Bye, Boobies to capture something gradual: the soft letting go that happens when a child begins to wean from breastfeeding. Not a single “last feed” moment, but a series of quiet transitions in bedrooms, at the park, and on airplanes. At the end of writing, much to my surprise, there was too much story to c...

"How does one become a butterfly?" she asked. "You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar." — Trina Paulus , Hope for the Flowers Did you know? There’s a monarch butterfly hidden on every page of Bye-Bye, Boobies . I added them quietly, almost like a secret, for little ones to find as they listen to the story. Each one is placed gently in the background or along the edge of the action, waiting to be noticed. Monarchs have always felt magical to me. Their wings are soft and bold at the same time, and their journey is incredible. They begin right here in Ontario and fly all the way to Mexico. It’s something many people don’t realise. We are so lucky to have these butterflies be a part of our summer landscape in Canada. One of my favourite things each year is visiting the local park when the monarchs are released. There’s always a group of people who have cared for them all summer, and seeing the butterflies take flight never ge...

  “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” — J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan