Tessa’s Tall Tales
Editor’s note – This delightful, as well as insightful, children’s book recently landed on my desk and I asked the publisher to tell us about it.
San Francisco Bay Area native and author, Carolyn Joyce Dodds, created Tessa’s Tall Tales, a quick-witted, whimsical tale intended for school-age children.
Tessa delights in telling tall tales but has she stopped telling the truth altogether? Tessa and her parents must navigate the waters between truth and falsehood without crushing creativity. It is a challenge for all imaginative children. Readers will delight in the adventures of wolf cub Tessa, her parents and friends as fancifully drawn by Academy of Art College graduate, June Gomez.
Child Development experts at Stanford University study children’s behavior health at the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital. Their in-depth studies of childrens’ understanding, grasp of fantasy vs. reality, and development of a moral code would baffle the most experienced parent. Is your 10-year-old just imagining wonderful adventures, embracing the tooth-fairy myth, uninformed, or just a bald-faced liar? There are numerous explanations depending on the child’s age, maturity, self-awareness or just plain conniving nature. Stanford professors call it psychology. Parents call it a concern or maybe a conundrum.
Little wolf cub, Tessa, is at that childhood stage where imagination abuts reality. She loves to tell stories and tales. As author, Carolyn Dodds, writes:
Mrs. Wiseowl is even wondering, “Has Tessa stopped telling the truth altogether?”
What to do as a parent or how to introduce a moral code?
Concerned, parents (perhaps yours and mine if you are of a certain age) had a simple answer. A child’s statement was assessed as either, “right” or “wrong,” whereupon the child was directed to, “Stop lying or else!” Modern parents confronted with a similar circumstance tend to view the situation as more of a dilemma.
Re-enter our hero, the little wolf, Tessa, in her story, Tessa’s Tall Tales. What will Mother and Father do? Spoiler alert! Teacher, Tooth Fairy and Wolfpack all want to know. You will, too.
Carol A. Jensen is a native daughter and resident of eastern Contra Costa County, California. She is a history graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara. Carol delights in discovering the history of the California San Joaquin Delta, collecting early twentieth-century ephemera, and documenting the cultural history of the area from those who lived, farmed, recreated, and visited the beautiful California Delta. The fruits of her historical search can be found at the East Contra Costa Historical Society & Museum, Knightsen, California.
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