You are Wonderful! Marzette- A Parable of Redemption

Marzette: You Are Wonderful is a story of unconditional love. Since I first started telling this story, I have seen many lives impacted by its message. Share the message forgiveness, identity, and redemption by helping bring this beautifully illustrated hardbound book to print.

I have always loved to dance.

I am an author, but I have always loved to dance. I was fascinated by the technique of portraying a human marionette. I spent hours in the studio with a shoe string and ballet barre, watching how my limbs responded to being pulled by a string.

Eventually I wanted to use the analogy of a marionette to perform a story with heart. 

After years of performing this story on stages across the world, I am excited to bring it to the page as a picture book that children can revisit day after day.

The Story

Marzette is a marionette fashioned by the Great Puppet Maker, and she can dance! Marzette desires the admiration of a prestigious audience. She, like you and me, wants the affirmation of others — the likes, followers, and reputation of someone important.

The Bad Guy 

The villain in the story embodies the lies we believe about ourselves. He is a slick, manipulative trickster. He tells Marzette she must perform to be adored. This story touches on a core issue in our culture— who controls me? What principles are guiding my decisions? This reflection is vital for us children today.

The Hero is Unconditional Love

Marzette is abused, misused, lied to, and rejected. Yet at her lowest point, she discovers that she was never forgotten, always loved, and still valued. She is still wonderful! This story shares the heart of God with your child: you are loved; you are wonderful.

Interested in the book? Find it here.

Phonics Fun for FREE

Do you have a visual learner, or a struggling reader? Do you want your child to thrive in reading? When teaching my son to read I discovered he needed more visual connection with the alphabet. It was only after drawing him an elephant E that says “eh,” he finally was able to comprehend that letter E makes two sounds. Thus began my journey of equipping my visual learner with the tools to decode the English language.

Want to try it?

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coloring pages here!

Phonics is essential

Many studies (like here and here) have found that in order to thrive in reading students must have some kind of phonics instruction, and this especially true for those with dyslexia. Sight words or whole language reading methods teach children to memorize words, guess, and estimate, but they fail to instruct children to decode words. It is estimated that a human being can learn no more than 800 sight words in a year, and as one ages that pace declines. English has over one million words; at the pace of 800 words a year, it would take children 1,250 years to learn all the words in the English language!

Phonics instruction equips children to decode any word, and understand their structure. Giving children instruction in phonics provides them with the tools to enjoy lifelong learning through reading.

Paperback copies available for Preorder

Reading requires abstract thinking

Myriads of letter books can be found with letters set next to images, like A for ant, B for ball, and C for cat. Forr the visual learner, those letters are boring black blobs set next to an appealing picture.

To read phonetically, children must understand that a symbol (A, B, C) signifies a sound, and then merge those sounds to form words. Jolie Canoli Phonics books aim to make it easier for children to acquire these abstract thinking skills by creating letters that look like sounds children are already acquainted with. Children don’t need to take an extra step of connecting an image with a symbol; instead
the image is the symbol. 

This phonics series is visual, easy to use, and simple.

Jolie Canoli Phonics has an A that looks like an ant, and a C that looks like a cat. More than that, these books aim to teach beginners and higher age groups in-depth language comprehension by teaching spelling rules and all phonetic sounds. For instance, children learn three A sounds- A like ant, A like acorn, and A that looks like its mouth is open, saying “ah!” Similarly, C is a happy cat that both says ‘k’ and a hissing cat that says ‘ssssss.’ 

Using easy to follow images, kids can practice handwriting skills by tracing each letter with their finger. My kids got frustrated at their inability to write letters, and it made handwriting an intimidating chore. These tracing activities are a fun tactile reinforcement that allows kids to learn proper handwriting without frustration.

Phonics for 2nd Language Learners

Students learning a second language can struggle with the myriads of pronunciations found in the English language. They frequently ask how the same letter can change sounds. Jolie Canoli Phonics is inspired by and compliments the Orton-Gillingham method for literacy. This methodology assists students in comprehending the many sounds found in English, and also goes on to teach students spelling rules that explain nearly all English words. Jolie Canoli Phonics introduces all the sounds of the alphabet, as well as the rules of Silent E, helping second language learners grasp the structure of the English language.

Learning Through Play

Books that read like Dr. Suess, with colorful and memorable icons, and fun coloring book activities make learning phonics feel like playing. My desire is to see visual learners like my son find a lifelong love of learning. If these products can help others find that path, then all the work has been worth it.

Order the full set of books and coloring pages on our store!

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Thermodynamics ...for Kids!

3 Laws of Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics is the study of heat, energy, and motion. Thermo refers to temperature, (think of the word thermometer!), and dynamics means energy in motion. (Think dynamite-a powerful explosion of energy!) The three laws of thermodynamics help us understand how heat, energy, and motion work within the universe.

1st Law of Thermodynamics:
Energy cannot be created or destroyed.

Get the full PDF with all 3 laws, a quiz, and more fun illustrations! Available in our online store.

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The 1st law of thermodynamics says energy cannot be created or destroyed. This law helps us understand that energy never disappears or goes away, it only gets moved around, or used in different ways. Imagine having a collection of blocks. You could use your blocks to build a really nice tower! Or you could use your blocks to build an animal figure. Or maybe you would use your blocks to make an airplane. No matter how you used the blocks, you would still have the same number of blocks. Even if you lost a block under the couch, or your neighbor borrowed some of them, there would still be the same number of blocks! Energy might move around, or be used in different ways, but you can never create more energy, or destroy energy— there will always be the same amount of energy in the universe, as if God gave the universe a certain number of blocks.

3rd Law of Thermodynamics:
Entropy of a perfect crystal at absolute zero is zero.

What does this mean? It means that if you could get perfectly organized atoms cold enough to be perfectly frozen, without any movement, then they will no longer move, change, or become disorganized. This law teaches us the idea of absolute zero, and it teaches us the relationship between entropy and temperature.

Absolute zero is 0 Kelvin, or -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit. But as far as we can tell, we can never reach absolute zero. In fact, scientists used lasers to cool individual atoms to 1⁄2 kelvin, but even they couldnʻt reach absolute zero. It is impossible to reach absolute zero because molecules will always move, and like we said before in the 2nd law, heat will always move from a hotter to a cooler. So no matter how hard they try, scientists canʻt keep heat from the molecules.

So why do we even have this crazy impossible law?!? This law helps us understand the ability of atoms to be random. This law helps us understand that motion, heat, and order are related. The more molecules can move around, the more heat they create, and the more entropy (or disorder). The more you study heat and energy and work, the more these laws help us understand what is happening in the universe.

Lastly, this law shows us that nothing in the universe is perfect. We all need grace, because we all have the tendency to be broken, disordered, and wearing down. We are all imperfect human beings, but the God of the universe offers his perfect love to all of us, doing his mighty work of healing and brining us into complete wholeness. That’s pretty much the best news in the whole universe.