Marie Weller (left) and Paula Vertikoff (right), authors of “Cranium Critters,” hold onto Mila, the Vertikoff family dog who served as the inspiration for their book’s character Scout, The Safety Pup.
Courtesy photo | craniumkidsmedia.com
A Delaware City Schools principal and a recently retired guidance counselor released their second children’s book this month and are hoping to continue the series in the future.
Carlisle Elementary School Principal Paula Vertikoff and former Carlisle guidance counselor Marie Weller are the authors of two “Cranium Critters” books, which they said are stories that “use animals to teach kids how their brains work.”
Weller said the books feature animal characters that are representative of parts of the brain, including Scout, a dog who represents the amygdala and emotions, and Einstein, an owl who represents the prefrontal cortex and the brain’s executive functions.
“Kids can related to animals. Certainly, they can relate to dogs, even if they don’t own a dog,” Weller said. “We know that it’s really important to train a dog, and just like training a dog, we have to train our mind too and practice strategies over and over again.”
Weller said the lessons in the book came from her and Vertikoff’s experiences working with children at Carlisle. Specifically, the books focus on “pause places,” which are where the animals learn tools to calm down or manage distractions. The second book focuses in on squirrels as metaphors for the different ways the brain can be distracted.
“Learning about your brain is very empowering for children and for adults,” Weller said. “For a lot of us adults, we never learned this as kids. I (want readers to learn) you have more control than you realize and with time, patience, and effort, you can become your best self and achieve your potential.”
The pair decided last year to write a book together in their spare time after seeing numerous ads on social media deceptively promoting how easy publishing a book would be.
“We learned nothing happens in three easy steps,” Weller joked.
The pair said they needed to find an illustrator for the book, and they wanted the art to help tell the story but not be the sole focus, a lesson they learned from reading books to children so often.
“We wanted the illustration to be as important to telling the story as the words,” Weller said. “There are books out there that teach social-emotional learning lessons, but they have lots and lots of words. The kids don’t have the attention span. I’m always on the lookout for books that are big on message but are not verbose.”
They said they connected with Marina Halak, an illustrator living in Germany, and selected her to create the art for the books because of her style.
“We just loved her illustrations,” Vertikoff said. “We needed someone who can draw animals.”
“We wanted animals with personality,” Weller added. “We’re trying to communicate that there are these animals, but they actually represent parts of the brain. She did fabulous work and has been so much fun to work with. She really captures the personality and emotions.”
The first book, “Cranium Critters: Paws at the Pause Place,” was released last year, and the second book in the series, “Cranium Critters: Einstein Acts when Squirrels Distract,” was released last week during an event at Beanbag Books during First Friday in downtown Delaware.
Vertikoff said she’s enjoyed the process, adding it was a learning experience.
“I enjoyed using our creativity and learning something new,” she said. “All of this was new learning.”
Vertikoff said they enjoyed doing author visits over the summer, and they will travel to the Books on the Banks event at Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati in November to promote and share the book. Vertikoff said they are careful to not market the book at Carlisle in any way.
Weller said the writing process was “definitely a lot of fun,” and they are hoping to do a few more.
“I liked being able to curate something that I’ve done in the classroom with students and being able to put it in a physical (form) to be able to share beyond the walls of our school,” Weller said. “We’d like it to be a series, and what types of animals align with your thoughts or emotions. There’s lots of possibilities.”
More information about the books can be found at craniumkidsmedia.com.
Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.
