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Jo-Marie, a retired, award-winning educator, shares life lessons through her books with children ages nine through fourteen. Her first series, Adi’s World, helps children deal with real-life challenges. Jo-Marie draws her stories and characters from her life experiences: developing from a shy girl into a leader; experiencing the joys and concerns of raising two sons; and stepping out of the familiar educational arena into the world of writing books.
Jo-Marie has always been a teacher. Whenever she learned anything, she immediately shared that knowledge with everyone she knew. She would often corral a friend, teaching the ‘captive student’ her latest nugget of wisdom, including how a baby tooth comes out, and why we should knock before opening a closed door. These lessons were shared in narrative form, with Jo-Marie cast as the hero.
Narration became an important tool in Jo-Marie’s teaching repertoire. She loved creating simulation learning experiences for her students. In one favorite history unit, the students pretended to be patriots and loyalists during the American Revolution, being led by their sovereign queen. Yes, Jo-Marie has been a story-teller most of her life.
After retiring from teaching, Jo-Marie stepped into a new career as a writer. Adi’s World, was her first book. She never meant to expand it into a four-book series, but as with many of her school lessons, the story simply grew. Writing a book was always one of her dreams, but she never believed she could do it. It was a group of her fifth-grade students who gave her the kick she needed.
Jo-Marie always insisted that her students could achieve their goals, if they put in the required time and effort. She taught them that life is a journey and to live their dreams. However, she never expected them to take over the lesson and make her the student.
One afternoon a boy asked her about her own dreams. He pushed her to share her secret childhood goal of writing a book. The teacher learned valuable lesson that day. Once fifth-graders know your secret, they never let it go.
Reaching this goal inspired Jo-Marie to step out even further and start her own company. Jo’s Journey, LLC is now the home of Adi’s World and all her future books. The company’s motto is: Life’s a journey. Live your dreams.
Reviewed by Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite
Believe by Jo-Marie is the exciting story of Adi and her friends whose world exists in a forest. Adi lives in Maple Community, a small town inside a Sugar Maple tree in Vermont. One day they realize that there is a crack in the bottom of Branch B, which holds her school. The adults cannot figure out a solution to solve the problem and they plan to close the school and spread the classes all over the tree. Adi and her friends are not too happy hearing that. She knows something has to be done and her idea gets accepted by her class. Adi’s friends, Jayden and Ayden Limb, hate living in a tree and they are keen to go and discover the outside world. Once they go outside, they realize how unsafe the outside world is and how there is a secret which has been kept away from them. Will Jayden and Ayden Limb join hands with Adi and help in saving the Maple Community?
The story has a good message to readers on how teamwork, trust, leadership, and belief can help everyone in protecting their clan and surviving, despite the problems around them. All the characters have been well portrayed, making them real and tangible. The author’s narration is detailed and descriptive, making the scenes and the characters vivid and alive. The tiny beings in the story are original and unique, their adventures, their world hidden in the forest, and teamwork make the story exciting and enchanting to readers. The positive messages in the story that life is a journey and everyone should live their dreams make it a must-read for all children.
