“Be fearless, sweet girl. Be fierce in your journey. Each path laid before you will help you keep learning.”
Before they ever learn the ways of the world, girls are often taught to be delicate, to always use their manners, to speak gently, to never make a fuss. People tell them that girls are nurturers, helpers, caregivers. They learn to never be too bossy, too loud, too wild, too much.
Instead of telling girls all the things they shouldn’t be, Dear Girl, Be Free exemplifies—with inspiring rhymes and fanciful illustrations—how girls can be anyone they want to be. They can be brave, adventurous, and daring. They can be bold and caring, loud and gentle, determined and doubtful. Sometimes they’re fearless, and sometimes they need an encouraging friend by their side. They can both help those in need and run wild and free. Girls don’t have to just be one thing. Girls can be anything!
With the help of Dear Girl, Be Free, teach the girls in your life that they shouldn’t be afraid to speak up for what they want or express what’s in their heart, and teach your boys that girls have all the same amazing qualities they have. With a little help of the girls the world won’t shy away and hide. They’ll spread their wings and fly!
Teachers always told Jamie Scheumann to keep writing because she was good at it, but it was only a hobby for most of her life. However, as the mother of two daughters, she now feels called to pursue her passion for writing in a way that will create a legacy for her girls and empower other young readers as well.
Reflecting on the scars from going through the loss of a parent, she decided that if it was her time to go, she wanted to have something her daughters could look back at. This cultivated in her a goal to craft a message that could resonate with any little girl, but especially with her little girls so that they could have something meaningful to hold onto throughout their lives.
In the words of the author: “It’s tough figuring out who you are and who you want to be. When you grow up with others constantly telling you who you are based on where you’ve been, it’s hard to see the big picture. But if you just calm yourself, you can still feel it. You know what the end result can be if you just keep going. Bad things will happen, and that is okay. Life gets sweet when you just learn to pivot.”
