Local children’s book author releases new book

Jeanine Deas

In her new children’s book, Twinkle, Twinkle, Where You Are, Waterville-based children’s book author Jeanine Deas offers a comforting, reassuring message for children everywhere — one especially powerful as we all journey through the pandemic.

“The book is about love and longing,” Jeanine says. “During COVID — and after that — it offers a magical way for children (and adults) to endure times of isolation and separation from family and friends. It encourages us to remain hopeful that we’ll soon be reunited.”

The book began in a most surprising way, as, one morning, Jeanine “spoke” with her deceased mother. “I still feel the energy of our relationship,” Jeanine says. “I begin each day talking to her. One morning, while gazing at her picture, I whispered, ‘Mom, where are you?’ I paused, then said out loud, “I love you so, wherever you are.’ These words were the inspiration for Twinkle, Twinkle, Where You Are.”

Presented in delightful, touching rhymes and illustrated by Meaghan M. Bailey, Twinkle, Twinkle, Where You Are is ultimately a hope-filled picture book with a message that can enrich children throughout their lives.

“My desire,” says Jeanine Deas, “is that readers will come to understand that when distance, time, or even death separate us physically from those we love, we are always connected through the ever-present energy of our relationship. It’s the ‘TWINKLE’ that gives us hope.”

Twinkle, Twinkle, Where You Are is available at Children’s Book Cellar, in Waterville.