Jamaica teacher Carin Bail, who has been educating young students for approximately 20 years, joined fellow teacher Carina Hale in drawing upon their experiences to write a children’s book, “Bye-Bye Brain Bully: Knocking Out Self-Doubt,” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The book is meant to teach children about mindfulness and empower them to succeed in their goals. According to Bail, the creation of the book is inspired by part of an interactive performance she and Hale had been doing in schools across Long Island and Queens called “Mission ME (Mindfulness leads to Empowerment).” Since the pandemic prevented them from being able to perform for kids, they decided to adapt the main lessons into a series of children’s books, with “Bye-Bye Brain Bully” being the first in a series of five.
According to Bail, she was inspired in large part to create Mission ME after hearing from some of her students about the trials they have faced at home. She noticed that many of the kids who were having difficulty in school were also having difficulty at home. In order to help them better manage their stress, Bail had her students perform different exercises, like teaching them mantras or stretching before the classes began.
“It really started having an impact,” Bail said. “I really started to see the kids behave in a different way. I saw them start to show more interest in reading and learning.”
After Bail consulted Hale about how they can bring this to more students in order to create a larger impact, the two decided upon writing the show Mission ME. During the performances, Bail portrays Captain Communicator, teaching kids to make changes in the world by using their voices. Hale portrays Believer Achiever, who teaches kids that there’s nothing they can’t achieve as long as they have belief.
“Within all of us, we have a lot of really great tools and strengths, but sometimes we don’t know what they are” Bail said. “Those tools and strengths are what helps us manage the outside world.”
Bail credits her brother for suggesting she and Hale write a book that promotes the messages of the play when the pandemic prevented them from being able to perform. This first book is inspired by the first song of the play, “I’m the Boss of Me.” The song’s message is that each individual controls how they feel and handle things. Hundreds of copies have since been printed and sold.
The book has become very popular among schools. According to Bail, 35 copies were recently purchased by a community school. In addition to offering the book, tool kits to help with the methods and exercises offered by Bail and Hale are available.
“The idea behind the book is that we all have a brain bully,” Bail said. “If we let this brain bully control us, we’re not going to be able to accomplish everything that we set our minds to. But when we can recognize it and use some of our tools to knock it out, then we can go forward and accomplish what we want to.”
The book’s message isn’t just meant to apply for kids. It is meant to be relatable to everyone. Bail and Hale wanted to create something that could connect to people young and old.
Bail and Hale are currently in the early stages of making the second book in this series. According to Bail, the hope is that the first draft of it will be completed by the end of the summer. Despite the fact that both haven’t had as much free time to work on it due to being back to working full-time as teachers at schools, they are still committed to eventually completing their five-part book series.
Those interested in purchasing Bye-Bye Brain Bully can do so by going to impoweredbyme.com. Customers can receive discounted shipping by using the code FRIENDS at checkout.
