Therapy sheep inspires local mum to create children's book

A mum, author and therapist from Leeds is celebrating launching her third children’s book, and she hopes it will go best seller, and end up on the book shelves of children across the region, because her greatest wish is to use the income from her book sales to fund her therapy work - so that she can treat terminally ill people for free.

Grace Olson, 51, from Moortown, is launching ‘Berel finds his wings’, the third children’s story inspired by her therapy sheep, at The Little Bookshop in Chapel Allerton on Sunday 9th March, 1-2pm, with a live Q&A, book signing and readings from the book.

Grace is already a best selling author with her previous heartwarming Yorkshire stories, inspired by her therapy sheep Merlin and Galahad and her horses, and her work has been celebrated on Channel 5’s The Yorkshire Vet. A therapist, healer and ILM qualified coach, Grace runs horse and sheep therapy sessions to heal people with mental and physical health issues. Her animals inspire her and those she helps, and she’s now tapped into them to spread messages of hope and positivity to children through her books, believing that there is still very much a place for classic fable-style fiction to play a role in spreading positive messages to children.

Grace experienced mental health struggles and depression from the age of 5, and was bullied at school. At ages 7 and 14 she attempted suicide and at 16 saw a psychologist who changed her life. Her experiences, and journey to healing inspire her to help others, and as she launches her 3rd children’s book - ‘Berel finds his wings’, her hope is that her creative outlet helps young people like her who may be struggling, to navigate complex emotions and understand themselves better. She also sees the books as a way of giving parents a way of talking to their children about their feelings.

She said:”We cannot underestimate the power of self awareness from a young age, and the importance of helping children with low self esteem navigate today’s world. I’m passionate about people understanding that we don’t have to be victims of our own negative thought patterns - we can learn to change how we think. I believe children need to learn from an early age that they can master the thoughts in their minds. What we believe, we ultimately become. It’s important to learn how to think wisely, with awareness. And that needs to start very young.”

Berel is a lonely lamb with no friends who keeps telling himself he’s not good at anything. When a little girl picks him to be her new pet, he finds himself transported to a new farm where he is presented with an enormous challenge: to think more positively. With the help of a wise pony and the love he feels for the little girl, Berel bravely finds the key to self-worth and learns how to make his life overflow with positivity and happiness.

Grace said:“In this story I see so much of myself and I really hope it can help children who are doubting themselves. The story is also directly inspired by my sheep Berel’s experience when he first arrived on my farm. When Berel first arrived, he was extremely nervous and hid under a hedge for quite a long time. When he eventually left the safety of the hedge, he was bullied by the three older members of the flock. It was hard for me to watch this happen to him as it reminded me of my own childhood experiences at school of being bullied.I spent a lot of time sitting with Berel and telling him how special he was and I gave him lots of cuddles. Then he began to stick up for himself which was such a wonderful thing to see. Berel blossomed and surprised us all when he demonstrated his agility prowess. He ran faster than the others and jumped higher over the poles! Berel’s sensitive nature, which grew into tremendous inner strength, gave me the inspiration for this little story.”

As a children’s author Grace is on a mission to help young minds grow into happy adults through the magic of empowering stories - using beautifully illustrated, classic fable-style children’s fiction, featuring her therapy sheep. Her ultimate goal is to use funds from her book sales to offer free therapy treatment for people who are terminally ill.

You can join Grace at her book launch by grabbing your free ticket here - https://www.thelittlebookshopleeds.co.uk/collections/events/products/free-childrens-event-with-grace-olson-09-03 or buy the book at https://www.graceolsonauthor.com/berel-finds-his-wings