Drawing from his background as an educator, theater teacher, improvisation coach, and stay-at-home father, writer Christopher Mannino adapts proven methods from improv and method acting and applies them to parenting. His approach helps families deepen connection, spark imaginative play, and support emotional regulation for both children and adults. Known for helping parents and kids truly engage, he has been featured in Parenting Today, Business Insider, Newsweek, and PBS. Today, he travels internationally with his wife and two children while writing fiction and nonfiction for audiences of all ages, blending creativity, empathy, and real-world parenting insight rooted in experience and joyful collaboration daily.

The daughter of Parisian shopkeepers, Adélaïde dreams not of marriage or titles but of earning a place among the masters of French art. With Queen Marie Antoinette on the throne and a spirit of change in the air, anything seems possible. But as revolution brews and powerful forces conspire to deny her success, Adélaïde faces an impossible choice: protect her life or fight for a legacy that will outlast her. Inspired by the true story of one of the first women admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, Janell Strube shares this evocative portrait of ambition, courage, and resilience in the face of history's fiercest storm. She is an author and poet who enjoys writing about resilience with unflinching honesty. Her poetry has appeared in the San Diego Poetry Annual and A Year in Ink.

Trauma therapist and parenting specialist Maggie Nick examines how well-behaved, emotionally compliant children often mature into anxious, uncertain adults. By clearly explaining relational shame trauma, she shows how "good kids" learn to suppress feelings, crave approval, and worry about being a burden—habits that frequently follow them into adult life. As a self-identified recovering "good kid," she brings personal insight to the subject, demonstrating how these pressures accumulate and how healing is possible. Grounded in research and extensive clinical work with adult "good kids," she provides practical guidance for parents and adults alike to recognize damaging patterns, interrupt generational cycles of harmful parenting, and build self-compassion, emotional security, and genuine, connected relationships that support lasting growth, resilience, and healthier family dynamics. She founded Camp Lovable, a self-compassion–focused healing community and is widely known for her popular Instagram and TikTok accounts, @maggiewithperspectacles.