May these words find you when you need them.
Monsters is a story in verse, written for a child and read with an adult.
It doesn't use the word "stranger." It teaches something harder and more useful — that people who harm children usually look ordinary, are often someone the child already knows, and are frequently kind. A book that gets that wrong leaves a child less safe than before they read it. It doesn't have to be a difficult conversation.
It can be an empowering one.
Awareness
People who harm children can be anyone - any age, any gender, familiar, or unfamiliar.
Butterflies in the Tummy
Trusting your instincts and the physical feeling that something is wrong
Common Lures
Asking a child for help, offers, flattery, requests to go somewhere quiet, and more
Online Contact
People who pretend to be a child's age and move conversations somewhere private
The Truths Found Within
That it is never the child's fault
A child is never in trouble for telling
The importance of telling again and again until they find an adult who will listen
The importance of telling about something that happened before, no matter how long ago
The importance of developing a family code for leaving a situation
Additional Strengths
Safe adults ask other adults for help, not children
Permission to be impolite in order to stay safe
Getting loud, getting away, and getting to a safe adult
Secrets versus surprises, and why "don't tell" is a major warning sign
Body autonomy and requests for photographs
A CheckList
An included checklist so the story is remembered and the strength it gives is instilled.
Families reading together at home
Rooms and school counselors as a way into a conversation that's already part of the curriculum
Child advocacy centers and prevention educators looking for material that doesn't frighten a child into silence
Monsters isn't published yet. It's being illustrated, and I'm seeking review from prevention professionals before it goes any further -because a book like this should be checked by people who do this work.
If you're one of them, I'd genuinely like to hear from you.
If you work with children — as a counselor, a teacher, or in child protection — I’d welcome your read of the manuscript.
I write more than I publish.
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.
May these words find you when you need them.
-Julie Himmler