Beyond the Page: Notes & Reflections From the Author
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Beyond the Page: Notes & Reflections From the Author •
October 15, 2025
Building Bridges & Legacy Through Storytelling
Each week on Beyond the Page, I open my heart a little wider—sharing the thoughts, lessons, and quiet momets that shape the way I write and live. This week’s reflection feels especially close to home. It’s about the power of storytelling—not just to entertain, but to connect.
I've always believed that stories are bridges. They carry us across time, across distances, and sometimes across quiet spaces between hearts.
When I write, I am not just creating characters or moments—I'm reaching for connection.
Each story is an invitation: to remember, to feel, to see ourselves and each other a little more clearly.
Storytelling, for me, is legacy in motion. It's how we hold onto moments that shaped us and offer them to the next generation with open hands.
Whether through The Jar of Kisses, Cameron! Look at the Moon!, or the stories still waiting to be told, I hope that each one reminds someone that love leaves a mark—and that ordinary moments often become our most meaningful memories.
The beauty of storytelling is that it doesn't just preserve where we have been; it builds a bridge to where we are going.
That is the power of words. They don't just connect, they continue.
From my heart and my pen…
Gwendolyn
October 12, 2025
Why Representation Matters
Welcome to Beyond the Page—a space where I step outside the stories themselves to share the heart, lessons, and lived experiences that guide my pen. It’s a space for reflection, authenticity, and connection—where life and creativity meet, and where every word carries a piece of who I am.
When I write, I think about the stories I didn’t see when I was young. The families that looked like mine. The mothers who sounded like mine. The kids whose love, laughter, and skin carried the same glow as my own.
Representation in children’s literature isn’t just about inclusion—it’s about reflection. Every child deserves to open a book and see themselves inside it: their skin tone, their family structure, their hair, their neighborhoods, their joy, their love, their possibilities.
When young readers see characters like Elena and Mateo (The Jar of Kisses) or Mama and Cameron (Cameron! Look at the Moon!), something powerful happens. They realize:
My love belongs in stories.
My love looks like love worth writing about.
I can be the main character—not just the friend, the sidekick, or the background.
It affirms their identity and builds self-worth at a deeply emotional level.
For children who don’t share those experiences, it builds empathy—the ability to understand, respect, and celebrate someone else’s truth.
Stories like The Jar of Kisses and Cameron! Look at the Moon! are doing both.
They are mirrors for the children who finally see themselves… and windows for the children learning to appreciate someone else’s world.
That’s why diversity in books is not just important—it’s essential!
Because when our books reflect every kind of beauty, every kind of family, and every kind of love, we don’t just tell stories… we change the narrative of who gets to be seen.
From my heart and my pen…
Gwendolyn