ABOUT
Julie Himmler
May these words find you when you need them.
WHAT I WRITE
VOICES
Giving a voice to those who don't have one. A scared tree, a fallen leaf, a confused bunny, a moose tired of the paparazzi humans, even a well-mannered frog with a grievance. They're sweet and funny — and they're about being unheard, which I think is something everyone understands.
LIFE
The days we all have. The moments of joy, sadness, grief, doubt- in ourselves or our circumstances. Some are funny. Some are anything but. They all have one thing in common -love.
TAKE CHARGE
About purpose, persistence and the harder thing underneath both-that you get to decide what you're working toward, and you're allowed to change your mind.
CHARACTER
Because most of who we are shows up in small moments — what we say when someone isn't listening, what we do when it would be easier not to. These are the stories about the moments that test us.
VALUES
One story for each: Appreciation, courage, determination, honesty, kindness, loyalty, manners, patience. Not lectures — guidance to help have the conversations around why values matter.
EMOTIONS
Because big feelings arrive long before the words for them do. These stories help us see emotions for what they are: ripples that come and go. But when we can understand them, we don't have to rush to push them away; we can instead sit with them, have a chat, and say goodbye when we're ready. Feel it, name it, let it pass.
PROTECTION
Because fear gets smaller when we know what to do. Animals, water, germs, traveling to a new place, the things that can go wrong in an ordinary day — Being prepared is what helps a person choose courage.
There's power in words. Words have found me when I needed them, and I've wanted to take them home — somewhere I could turn to them again.
This is my way of giving that back. Maybe someone relates.
Maybe someone needs to hear it right then. Maybe it helps.
I share these stories for anyone who needs a laugh, a cry, a reminder of their worth, or a way into a conversation — with someone else or with themselves.
why I WRITE
I didn't set out to be a writer...or an illustrator.
I started writing for one child — my daughter — because there were things I wanted her to understand in case my life ended before I could teach her. So I wrote them down in rhyme. She was so small; I wanted them to be fun for her to read, but they were never meant to leave the house.
Eventually I shared a few. And what came back surprised me — not "that's sweet," but people telling me a story had given them the words for something they'd been carrying.
A teacher who used one in her classroom. A parent who finally had a hard conversation. A man married for forty-two years who told me he was going to choose his words more carefully with his wife.
That changed things. Keeping them private started to feel selfish.
So I kept writing, and I never stopped. What I have now is not what I started with — more than a hundred and fifty stories, and the newer ones went somewhere the early ones didn't.
For a long time I called them children's books, because that's who I'd written the first ones for. As time passed, it became clear they weren't only for children. A story about forgiveness doesn't expire at eleven. Neither does one about fear, or purpose, or what to do when a day is hard.
Some are funny. A squirrel convinced his own tree has betrayed him. A bunny who thanks a dryer vent for its warmth, then formally severs the friendship when he decides his new friend is withholding heat for no good reason. A frog utterly appalled by a woman's manners.
Some are not funny at all. Those go deep — into the hard days, the voices in our own heads, the parts we don't always show. I call those my Deep Water stories.
And some sit in the middle. The ones we all recognize, because we're human — a reminder worth hearing again, or an old idea seen from a new angle.
All the original stories are still here. But be ready: some of what came after isn't for children. Though maybe that's only partially true...after all, each one of us, no matter our age, still carries with us the versions of the children we once were.
MONSTERS
Monsters is the story I take most seriously.
It empowers children to notice when something isn't right,
to speak up, and to keep telling, as many times as it takes, for someone to help.
It says plainly that the people who harm children usually look ordinary and often aren't strangers —
because a book that gets that wrong leaves a child defenseless.
It's written for families, classrooms, and counselors.
I'm illustrating these myself now, in ink,
which is newer to me than the writing, and it shows.
More stories are coming, as I've been told
I am "a well of words that will never dry up."
(Not sure that's a compliment)
But nonetheless, the world will continue to inspire me,
and I will continue to write.
The stories will be contained in various
compendium volume-style books,
with the exception of Monsters.
This will be a standalone story entirely.
Join The List!
I share the new ones if you're on the list.
Stories and sketches come to you
as soon as they exist.
You'll also be the first to know
when the books are ready to go.