OTT 256: From Teacher to Author: Christine Devane's Journey with Elephant Beach

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Christine Devane takes us on her journey from classroom teacher to published children's author, revealing how patience and persistence led to the publication of her book "Elephant Beach" after nearly a decade of waiting. What started as a manuscript written during her teaching years perfectly aligned with her current life as a mother of three, creating a beautiful full-circle moment where she now shares her creation with both students and her own children.

Drawing from personal experience with shyness, Christine crafted a story about an elephant who needs time before feeling comfortable joining others in play—a universal childhood experience that resonates with many young readers. The book's gentle approach to social anxiety provides teachers and parents a valuable tool for discussing different comfort levels and emotional needs. As Christine shares, "I wanted to write a book about somebody that's shy and it takes her a little while to want to join the elephants... she learns that she can have fun joining a group."

Her classroom visits transform simple readings into immersive experiences complete with beach towels, sunglasses, and beach ball discussions—all while honoring children's different participation preferences. This thoughtfulness extends to Christine's approach with her own middle child who needed six weeks of attending soccer before feeling ready to play. "I didn't force him to do anything... it's just funny because sometimes when it clicks with kids, he was so excited to go last night." With a grief-centered book on the horizon and dreams of expanding the Elephant Beach series, Christine demonstrates how teachers bring unique insights to children's literature by understanding the emotional landscapes of young readers. Find "Elephant Beach" on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Archway Publishing.

Elephant Beach on Amazon

Elephant Beach | Christine Devane

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to One Tired Teacher.
Episode 256, a conversationwith Christine Devan.
So today I get to talk to aspecial guest.
She is a children's book author, she was a teacher and she's a
mom and she has written a bookand it is out in the world and
we're gonna talk a little bitabout that and about the power

(00:23):
of read aloud and all thosethings.
Hope you stick around.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome to One Tired Teacher.
And even though she may need anap, this teacher is ready to
wake up and speak her truthabout the trials and treasures
of teaching here.
She is wide awake.
Wait, she's not asleep rightnow, is she?
She is awake right.
Okay, From Trina Devery,Teaching and Learning your host,
Trina Devery.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
So I'm excited to have a special guest today,
christine Devane.
Oh, I do that every time, everysingle time.
I like know what I'm going tosay and then it like plops into
my head in a different way.
Anyway, we're going to talkabout some teaching things and
like doing something new, andI'm very excited to have to have

(01:16):
you on the show.
So welcome, welcome.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Well, thank you.
I'm very excited to be on theshow.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, I was.
Yeah, it's been.
You know, I like took a breakfrom One Tired Teacher for like
almost a year and then, likehopping back in, like
interviewing and things likethat.
I'm like, oh, I'm a littlerusty.
I'm like I need to like and Ihave a podcast with my daughter
that I might have three podcastsand I'm like, why am I rusty?

(01:42):
Like I've been doing this since2018.
Like, what is my problem?
But, but that's all right, okay.
So, okay, tell us a little bitabout like your background and
your like why you came to your,you know, to your, your book and
your ideas.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Okay, so I grew up in Massachusetts and I went to
Merrimack College and then,after I graduated from college,
I became a teacher.
I taught for one year at aCatholic school and then I moved
to a public school and I taughtthere for 12 years.
I started working on the booksthen because I always loved

(02:21):
reading with my class and Ithought it was so fun to see how
excited they were and to learnwith them.
So I thought it was really fun.
I left teaching and it's funny.
I went to all sorts ofworkshops, sent the book
everywhere and I didn't reallyhear anything and then I left
teaching.
I have three small children nowand I love reading books with

(02:42):
them, and then somebody reachedout to me last year.
So it's been a while since Iactually wrote the book, but all
the timing worked out perfectbecause my kids are a little
bigger now.
So it's just funny how thingswork out.
So now, instead of readingbooks with my class, I read
books with my kids.
I have two boys and a girl, sothere's a lot of dump truck

(03:04):
books and a lot of fire truckbooks.
She's the youngest, so she'sstarting to get her books in
there, but I've just alwaysloved reading with kids whether
it was kids in school or now myown kids and it's funny.
I always loved elephants andgrowing up I collected elephants

(03:25):
.
My grandparents and parentsalways brought me back elephants
.
So when I was thinking of myown book, elephants just popped
into my head because they'refunny, kids like them.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
So I thought that making a story about elephants
would be fun, yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
I definitely think that that's true.
They are cute, they're fun.
Who doesn't love elephants?
So I think that's great, and Ialso love how important it is,
how valued you feel about readalouds in general and how
they're important for classes.
But they're also important forour own kids, and for a season
of time, I was doing videos onYouTube called readers in the

(04:07):
making, and it was reallyfocused on getting like kids to
love reading and like cherishreading, and so finding those,
those books that hook kids, issuch an important part of that,
and to be a part of that isreally cool, did you?
So you put this out there todifferent publishers, or how did

(04:28):
that part work?
I'm just curious.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, so I sent it out to all sorts of publishers
probably 10 years ago, and thenlast year randomly somebody
reached out to me to publish it.
So it's just funny how thingswork out and who we are so yeah,
yeah, but, and now it makes itspecial because I can share it
with my kids.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Um, and it's funny.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
When I wrote the book I have red hair.
There's not a lot of kids thathave red hair, so I made sure
the character had red hair.
But since then I've had mydaughter and she has red hair.
So now everybody's like, oh, isthat Adeline in the book, so
it's fun to be able to share itwith them too.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, absolutely, that's so cool.
I love that.
I also love that sometimes,when we're teaching and we want
to do something else, we oftenfeel like maybe we're feeling a
little bit trapped and we don'tknow what else we can do and
where our skills fit.
And absolutely, writing andwriting children's books is a
huge use of skills.

(05:29):
And and then your experience,like with children and seeing
how they respond to things andcharacters and like thinking of
them when you're, when you havea story in mind, I think is
really valuable and veryimportant.
Okay, so you wrote a book andnow it is come to life, which is
, you know, very exciting and,as far as I mean, I guess I

(05:49):
already came to life, but nowit's like out in the world.
So, yeah, that's great.
And you, you sent, you sharedthat you had been in some
classrooms and had shared thebook and some of the things that
they were doing.
I would love to hear about thatbecause I think that sounds so
cool, especially when kids getto meet the author.
That's such an exciting thingfor kids.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, so I had a lot of fun.
So we did elephant beachparties.
I brought in beach towels.
The kids sat on the beachtowels and then I brought them
all sunglasses so they pretendedthey were at the beach.
And then we had a couple ofdiscussions.
Before we read the book, Ibrought a beach ball in and then
, when they want to talk, wethrew the beach ball, which they

(06:33):
thought was fun.
We talked about what we bringto the beach and it's funny,
they love sharing all theirideas because they love going to
the beach.
And then we talked about ourfavorite animals and then we
read the book.
And then after the book, I hadmade up a couple activities.
So I had a paper that said if Iwas at the beach with an

(06:56):
elephant, and so kids couldthink of what they would do at
the beach with an elephant, andthen I had some coloring pages.
So the teachers loved itbecause the kids had fun and we
did a bunch of things togetherinstead of just reading the book
.
I wanted to make it fun for thekids and the timing worked out,
just because it's the end ofthe year, getting ready to go to

(07:18):
the beach.
So, yeah, I had a lot of fun.
The kids really liked it and itwas cute.
One of the classes I went tolast week they knew I was coming
and this little girl lovedelephants so she wore her
elephant shirt for me, so it wasfun.
Yeah, so I'm to continue thatin the fall, and then I actually
I think there's a couple ofdaycares and stuff I might go to

(07:41):
over the summer.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, that's great.
No, I think that's really fun.
I know that when kids get achance to like, understand, like
, look at it as a reader, lookat writing as a writer, and then
seeing somebody who actuallyputs that whole process together
and then they get, they get tomeet you like and ask you
questions, and things like thatcan be, just you know, very

(08:04):
exciting.
Do you think that?
Who do you like?
What age range do you thinkthat this book is the best for?
I?

Speaker 3 (08:12):
would say probably four to eight.
I do have a lot of friends whohave toddlers and they like the
book for nighttime books.
Four to eight would be theirage range of reading
independently, but yeah, I think, anything in between those ages
.
So most of the schools thatI've been to have been

(08:33):
kindergarten for second grade.
They've really enjoyed it.
I haven't really done anythingabove second grade but, like my
daughter's too, she lovesreading it and, like I said,
some of my friends' kids havetoddlers and they like reading
it.
So yeah, basically, and maybethe whole under eight age.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, no, I think that sounds perfect.
Okay, so tell us a little bitabout like coming up with the
idea and and and creating a book.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
So I came up with the idea because I was always shy
when I was younger.
So I just wanted to write abook about somebody that's shy
and it takes her a little whileto want to join the elephants
and then she finally does andshe learns that she can have fun
joining a group.
So that's kind of where I cameup with the idea and writing it

(09:28):
took a little while because youhave to cut down on the words so
much.
You only have so many pages andyou want to make sure that the
kids are able to understand thebook and visualize the book with
the words that you're using.
So, um, and you don't want towaste a lot of words.
So there was a lot of editing,back and forth, cutting down the

(09:50):
words.
That was probably the hardestpart, um, and then, once it went
in, I just worked with thepublishing company to figure out
the illustrations and I got topick how everything looked and
then we went back and forthfiguring out all the pictures.
I love purple, so I made surethere was a lot of purple in
there.
But yeah, it was.

(10:11):
It was a fun project process.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
Yeah, that's really cool.
So did they.
They came up with illustrations, like your publisher had
somebody that could illustratefor you.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah, I wrote very detailed notes for every single
picture and then they drew themand then they came back to me
and I got to edit them.
So if there's anything I wantedto change or anything like that
, so we went back and forth fora couple of months and then
finally it was done.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, that's really, that's so cool.
That's always been the biggestlike hang up in my mind is I'm
like I can't draw, I can't, butlike knowing that that would not
have to be an obstacle is, youknow, an interesting thing to
think about and I, yeah, I love.
I also love the idea of liketapping into emotions for kids

(11:00):
and you know that feeling of I'mI feel shy, I don't know if I
feel comfortable joining a group, or you know what that feels
like and what that looks like,and I think that's like such a
great discussion starter withkids so that they can talk about
those feelings and how younavigate that.
So I love that idea.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Yeah, I wanted to make sure that that was included
in the book and that sometimesit takes kids a little bit
longer to want to join a group.
So I mean, the elephants askher to join the first time and
she says no, but then they'repatient and she eventually comes
and plays with them, and it'sthe same thing with kids.
I mean, some kids don't alwayswant to play.

(11:39):
I have three and my middle sonis very shy, so sometimes he
just wants to play by himself.
So it's just figuring outeverybody's different.
So it's just figuring out kidsemotions and teaching them how
to be kind to each other andunderstanding not everyone is
the same.
So, yeah, and even when I gointo the classes.

(12:01):
I don't really pick on kidsbecause I know not everybody
wants to get picked on, so I letthem raise their hands if they
want to give an answer or joinin.
I think almost every kid hasgiven some sort of answer, but
there's always those kids thatdon't want to and that's fine.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, they feel reluctant.
Yeah, I think you know.
I know you did this at the endof the year, but I also think
the beginning of the year is agreat time for this book,
because it's such a perfect wayof talking about how some kids
do want to join and play andbeing inclusive and how it's
also okay if somebody is likeoff playing by themselves and

(12:40):
they want to be by themselves orthey want to, you know, be with
one other person or whatevertheir dynamic is, and kind of
talking through what that mightlook like on the playground or,
you know, in PE or whatever thecase may be.
So I think that that would be areally good time to introduce
this book as well.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
Yeah, I would have to agree.
And it's funny, my middle sonthat's shy, he is play soccer
and for a while I was bringinghim and he would kick the ball
around at the beginning and thenhe would come and ask to sit
down with me and he didn'treally want to play and I said
Okay fine fine, but I keptbringing him um and then, I
don't know, last week he decidedhe wanted to play.

(13:22):
He played the entire hour andthen last night was his last
game.
So he played for the last twogames.
But um, he was so excited to golast night he said I'm gonna go
to soccer, I'm gonna kick theball.
Um, there were six weeks hewent where and he basically
played for 10 minutes.
But I just kept bringing himand I didn't force him to do

(13:42):
anything and I said, if you wantto play.
You can play.
If not, we're still going tocome.
But yeah, it's just funnybecause sometimes when it clicks
with kids, like he was soexcited to go last night, I
can't wait, I can't wait.
So it's different for every kidbecause my other son jumps
right out on the field as soonas we get there, but for some

(14:03):
kids it takes a little while.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
I agree, and you have to create like that safe
environment.
And it sounds like you did thatand gave him the space to
figure out if he was ready ornot, and I think that's really
important.
Okay, so what do you think?
Where do you see this going?
Like elephant beach, do youplan on having like another
story with elephant?
Or like do you think, do yousee more stories in your future?

Speaker 3 (14:27):
So I would love to do more elephant beach theme
stories, and I actually haveanother book that's coming out
by the end of the year.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
It's on a much different topic.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
It's about grief and a little girl that loses her
grandfather, because that'ssomething that when I was
teaching there really wasn't alot of books on, and a lot of
kids do deal with grief.
So that's my next book, but Ido want to make more of the
Elephant Beach books and makethat a series make more of the

(15:00):
elephant beach books and makethat a series.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, that's cool.
No, I think that the grieftopic is important and it's
really helpful to have booksthat help kids talk about
feelings and like experiencethose kind of things in a safe
place.
So I like, I love that.
Yeah, oh, christine, thank youfor sharing and coming on and
talking about your book and andyour what you're doing.

(15:21):
Where can people find you?

Speaker 3 (15:25):
so my book is on amazon, it's on barnes and
noblecom and it's on archwaypublishing, so you can buy the
books any of those places.
And then I'm doing a story timein Chestnut Hill June 29th at
11 o'clock, and hopefully I'llbe doing more story times

(15:45):
throughout the summer, but Ihave that one right now.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
That's cool and people can find you on social
media.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yeah, you can find me on social media.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, then they can kind of follow along and see
where you are and if they're inthe same location, that would be
a great opportunity for them tocheck you out.
Yes, yeah, thank you so muchfor coming and for sharing, and
I wish you the very, very best.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
Well, thank you so much for having me.
This was fun.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Okay.
So I'm so glad we got a chanceto catch up with Christine and I
will link to her book and allof her stuff.
And now next week we're talkingabout screens, student focus
and helping kids re-engage inreal life.
Until then, sweet dreams andsleep tight.