Transforming Schools with Love with April Graney

Author and Speaker April Graney joins Valerie Fentress as they talk about April's latest picture book, If Jesus Came to My School.

Valerie - Welcome to Book Worthy. Today, we're talking with author and speaker April Graney. Her latest book, If Jesus Came to My School, is a whimsical tale of a young girl who imagines what it would be like if Jesus visited her school as a child. What would a day with Jesus be like at school? Through writing texts and vibrant illustrations, children will be inspired to make a difference at their schools through their actions, because as they treat each other right in the classroom, and become families. Jesus truly will be with them in their school. Welcome to Bookworthy April.

April - Thanks very much. Thanks for having me.

Valerie - It is my pleasure. Okay, we're going to start with an easy question. Well, it's a random question, but it's, I think it's easy. We'll find out. All right. Well, our random question of the week is, what celebrity do most people say you look like?

April -What celebrity? So, my son recently told me that I look a little bit like Reese Witherspoon. So, I will take that gladly. Probably the light blonde I have right now on the short haircut. Hey, Reese is amazing and beautiful and talented. So I'll take it.

Valerie - Your son's trying to stay on your good side, it seems.

April - Yes, he is. He knows his mom well.

Valerie - Well, April, tell us a little bit about your book, If Jesus Came to My School.

April - Yeah, so if Jesus came to my school, as you said before, is a little girl imagining what it would be like if Jesus came to school with her for a day and met all of her classmates and her teacher, and just how that would be the best day of their lives. But then Jesus, as they're playing on the playground, Jesus recognizes that there's Emily, and she's sitting alone, and she sits with a frown. And so he goes over to chat with her and asks her, You okay? Know, just talk to her and then invite her to join the group. And they go through the rest of the day, and

Jesus helps the kids who may not be treating each other right, and helps them to get along. And, you know, I just imagined as I was writing it, like, what would Jesus say to bullies? How would he stand up to them? Right? He, he wouldn't let them treat kids the wrong way. And just thank the teacher for all of her hard work, you know, appreciate the teachers who are making a difference in the world. And then she realizes at the end, hey, I know that Jesus can't come to school with me, but I can be like Jesus. It's a better plan. He wants to live through me. He wants to live through all of his children. And so I can, you know, look out for kids like Emily and help kids get along. And just the class could have the light and love of Jesus through her impact and her influence. So that's the gist of it. Yeah.

Valerie - I love that story for kind of this is for kind of ages, kind of that four to eight rage kind of early kindergarten, first grade, in preschool, a little bit. And just as they're walking into new environments, to new situations to be like that, that ultimate question from the nineties, what would Jesus do? You know, and just really putting it in a way that young kids can understand and see in the situations around them, because yeah, Jesus. You know, he was radical in many instances, but he was always loving. I think that, you know, a lot of kids, my kids, bullying started in third grade. And I'm just like, how, how did bullying start so young? And it's important for us to have those deep and hard conversations with our kids at an early age. Now, what do you hope kids to walk away with from this book?

April -So I'm a middle school English teacher at a school for kids at risk. And so it's a boarding home for kids, a children's home. So every day when I walk into the classroom and I show up for school, I see the impact that how kids treat each other has on each other. And I see kids who have experienced a lot of trauma and, you know, sometimes as a result of trauma, their behaviors aren't the most enjoyable and they may not have the most be the easiest kids to love and yet I know I know without a shadow of doubt that God created each one of them that they're made in his image that they're deserving of love and kindness and so for me as a teacher I I want to show them that grace and love and kindness that that Jesus would and so my hope for these kids, you I really want to support families who are putting their kids in school. And sometimes that's a scary thing to do as a parent. I remember that we

Homeschooled for many, many years, and I loved homeschooling. And then we ended up putting our kids in public school. And I remember that first day dropping them off, how hard that was, and how afraid and nervous I was. They were, especially my one daughter. She was like, Are the kids going to like me? That was her biggest fear. I dropped them off, and I went straight to a mom's prayer meeting. Thanks to the Lord that it was that day. And I was able to go and just pray for them and cry through the prayer time, knowing, using scripture to pray for your kids. And so I want to support families who are putting their, know, taking that brave step and putting their kids in school and so that their kids will know that Jesus is with them throughout the day, that we don't see him with our eyes, but Jesus loves us and he's by our side. He knows everyone we're interacting with. He knows who our teacher is. He knows what we're doing throughout the day, and he wants to love our kids. He wants, I just want to lay the foundation in our kids' hearts that I can be salt and light in my school. You know, there may be some kids in my classroom who don't know Jesus, who don't know God, and I have the opportunity to show them God's love. And, you know, I just respect so many families I've known who have, you know, bravely done this and put their kids in school and seen their kids be salt and light and sometimes in a dark place and make an impact. Yeah, just hoping this book can lay that foundation for our kids' lives even when they're younger, starting when they're young. And as they grow up, I just see that light burning brighter and brighter and getting bigger for Jesus, the more they come to understand who he is and the world around them. Yeah, just hoping to make an impact in our schools.

Valerie - I love that I'm a public school mom. It's been a journey of faith with my kids in a public school. And it has been through seasons of bullying, seasons of, you know, dark seasons. It's been that you might be the only Jesus that this person ever meets. And it's been just like, kind of that challenge I put to my kids, just that, you know, we represent something bigger than ourselves because we say this about who we are. We say we are a Christian, we are a follower of Christ, and are we going to do it perfectly? No. But thankfully, there's grace. You know, but we can respond in a godly fashion, even when we do make mistakes. And I love that your book is going to be a tool for public school, and even, what is it? Preschools just remind kids that they can be that salt and light in whatever situation they're put in. Because there has been a lot, there seems to be a lot more material, a lot more books that are provided for homeschooling families in recent years. And it has been hard for me as a public school parent to be like, all right, what are my tools to equip my kids in the choice that we've made? We made it as a family to be a light in a dark place. And it's been both good and challenging and faith-building for each of my kids and even for me. So, I love that you're doing that with this book. Now, when did your writing journey begin, April?

April - Okay, so my mom passed down to me, I don't know, years ago, 10, 15 years ago, my baby book and all the things that she had saved. And I found in there something that I must have written around first grade. And it was a picture book. Was God made flowers, God made trees, God made you, God made me, you know, and I had illustrated it. And I don't remember creating that book, but I was so excited to find it. So I was like, that seed was planted like the Lord planted that seed in my heart as a child to write. And I always did want to be an author. Like I thought, oh, that'd be so cool to go in a bookstore and see my name on a book and have a book published. And I always thought it would be a book for moms, like a parenting book or something. You know, we have five kids. And so I thought, oh, write something for moms, and then the Lord gave me this picture book story, and it was like, I love this. Just the Lord surprised me with that being my first book, and I'm just so thankful, and I don't know if I'll ever transition to any other type of writing because I love, love picture books so, so much.

Valerie - There is a joy and a love that comes with picture books, whether you write them or read them. There's something that kind of taps into that inner child and speaks to your heart a little bit. Don't know, stronger for some reason. I always say that you're never too old for a picture book. And because it just, they do such a great job of communicating big truths in really small ways and edible ways.

April - Right. And that's how, you know, it's great that as a parent, I got to read my kids stories, story after story, picture book after picture book. And I love, as an adult, that's probably my love for picture books grew even stronger. You know, when I became a mom and I was reading these stories and I would think, I wish I had written that. It's so good.

Valerie - I kind of had the same experience in my own parenting, it's like, I've always loved books, but it wasn't when I started reading, you know, I had my first son, and he got read to even when he was like itty bitty. It's like, we're going to start this reading thing really young, it's just one of those, there's something, there was a season where we were, I was reading through a, what was it? Like a Bible, some sort of Bible, something. It was like a devotional of some kind, but. Those simple truths were what my heart, my adult new mom heart, needed to hear. But it was able to be in that early mother season where you're just so sleep deprived and still figuring all the things out. It was just sweet little truths that I was able to grab onto and process when nothing much else was processing.

April - Sometimes the children's Bible is the only Bible reading I get done. I just need a good children's Bible, and that's my devotion for the day, and I do it with the kids.

Valerie- There's no harm in that being the devotion of the day for certain.

April - Yep, those seasons for sure.

Valerie - Well, what is one of your favorite books, April?

April - Okay, so I could not narrow it down, Valerie. That's such a hard question. So I did break it into seasons. I hope that's okay. So I was thinking about it as a like middle school, early

Teenager, early high school, the Narnia series. The Chronicles of Narnia: A Lion in the Witch and the Wardrobe. My grandfather introduced me to those books; he let me borrow them at their house when we were there for a holiday. And those were my absolute favorites growing up. And then as a young mom, or well, let me go back real quick to college. In college, the most impactful book for me as a person, I'm a doer, and I like to, I'm like, I wanna accomplish things and get these goals and. try to meet them, was the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. Had a whole class on that. And so, just beginning with the end in mind and those principles from the Seven Habits book have been life-changing. And I teach that in my middle school life skills class now. So I get to review it every year.

So it's great, great for me. But then, as an adult and as a mom, the

Most impactful books that I have read have all been missionary stories. So we loved reading the hero tales for kids. There's a Christian Heroes Then and Now that's all about different missionaries. Have audiobooks, series that we would listen to. But then my favorite, and it may be out of print, I don't know, missionary stories with the Millers. I love, I just love hearing stories of people who took leaps of faith to go and do something crazy that God was calling them to do, you know, that other people couldn't believe that they were doing, and God walked them through that and, you know, went before them in that. And yeah, so this is probably my favorite book right now. I read it to my middle schoolers each fall or every other year, try to hit that one. So it's probably my favorite book right now.

Valerie - That's a great collection of books, for certain. And I love that that's the seven habits of very effective people. That's a great book for middle schoolers, just to kind of get a grasp on how do I do anything? Because we all have to figure it out, but to have, you know, kind of wish I read that in middle school kind of thing. It was like, hmm, that would have been helpful. But that's neat. I love, you know, missionary stories that kind of. In our American culture, we can kind of dumb down God a little bit and not see Him as prevalent. But with missionary stories and people who take those big leaps of faith, it's right in front of their faces. And it's so sweet when their stories are communicated because we get to see how real and active God is. And we don't always see it in our first-world problems. You know, the type of thing. And so it's really neat to walk through and to encourage kids to read as well. So, what is your favorite children's book other than your own?

April - Okay. Okay. So my favorite, probably, I think it's probably my favorite children's book of all time, is called The Seven Silly Eaters by, gosh, I meant to write down the name, Hoberman, Mary Ann Hoberman, or Sue Ann Hoberman. I should know the first name. But Seven Silly Eaters is about a mom who has seven kids, and they all will only eat one thing. And just how frustrated and annoyed she gets. And it has to be the perfect.

temperature and the perfect, you know, amount and fixed a certain way, and served a certain way. And then in the end, they all, all her seven kids, it's her birthday and they're trying to, they each want to fix their dish for their mom. And it all ends up in one big pot, and it makes this birthday cake for mom. Then when they wake up in the morning, you know, they've thrown it in the oven and kind of give it up, and they wake up in the morning. It's his birthday cake for mom. And it's just written in rhyme and meter. It's so beautiful. And I, every time I had five kids, and so I was looking for a story that kind of I could relate to as a mom, that, you know, it's hard having five kids and they all want different things. And, you know, you fix a meal and there's always one that, ah, I don't like this, you know? And so I just related to it as a mom, and I just appreciated it so much as the poetry and the way it's written. I wish I had written this. So that's probably my favorite children's book of all time. I also really like the greatest, The Very Best Christmas Pageant Ever. That one as well. The alliteration in there, the hyperbole, the metaphors, and everything is just beautiful.

Valerie - That was a fun one. We kind of discovered that only a couple of years ago, and it's kind of become something we read yearly because it is just so engaging. And finally, we were excited when the movie came out last year. So it's just a fun, again, like a missionary story in a sense, the unexpected hints of Christmas throughout that are really fun. Very cool. And I can, what is it, relate to your favorite, the seven silly eaters, cause I got three silly eaters and usually I'm sitting down to, you know, make my meal plan for the week. I'm like, okay, let's at least have one person's meals, one person likes, and then maybe one meal that mom and dad like. So can't make everybody happy, but at least there's food on the table. Too fun. Well, April, what can we expect next from you?

April - Well, I, you know, I honestly don't know what the Lord has in store for a future book. I do have some manuscripts that are kind of in the works, and we'll see what the Lord does. Just really focusing on right now to encourage families whose kids are in school. And I have written a 10-day devotional for families called Sharing Jesus at School, and it's available on my website for download for free. So really just doing things like this, talking to people, and sharing resources. Did wanted to mention to you, Valerie, you were talking about support as a public school mom. I have discovered so many great organizations that support moms, of course, Moms in Prayer International is an incredible one with moms' groups praying over their schools and their kids in school. But Gateways to Better Education has all kinds of resources on the freedoms that parents and teachers, and students have in their schools. Decision Point is another one that is equipping kids with resources to start Bible clubs and to have gospel sharing events in their schools. Christian Educators, Teach for the Heart is another organization for Christian teachers that I just have fallen in love with and I'm on all their lists now and I'm getting all of their resources and then my goal is to just like dish it out, keep sharing all of the things that they're creating. We don't have to reinvent the wheel, but they're recreating all, they're creating all these resources, and I'm, you know, just want to link to them and share them and just really help, try to help families with kids in school. Yeah.

Valerie - I love that. It is definitely a mission field of its own. Letting your heart walk into a public school. Like I call my kids a little piece of my heart walking around on the outside. So it is, we need all the support we can get. Well, April, where can people find out more about you and your books?

April - Sure, they can look at my website, which is aprilgraney.com, april-g-r-a-n-e-y.com. But it's also www.onehappyhouse.org. So the last line of my first book, The Marvelous Mudhouse, we are the one happy house in that book at the very end. It turns from a hungry house to a happy house. And so, www.onehappyhouse.org, they can look there. And I'm also on Instagram and Facebook. Think I'm the only April grainy in the world. I don't find any others there. So pretty easy to find as well there.

Valerie - And we'll be sure to have those links in the description box too, so listeners can find you easily. Thank you so much for joining me today, April.

April - Thank you, Valerie. Appreciate it. Great talking.

Valerie - Great talking with you, too. And thank you for joining April and me on this episode of the Bookworthy Podcast. Check the show notes for any books or links that we discussed, and let us know in the comments what celebrity most people say you look like. Be sure to like and subscribe so we can discover more great books together.

Happy reading.