May is National Foster Care Month: Help Us Share Books

May is National Foster Care Month!

Did you know that over 325,000 children and youth are in the foster care system in the US (with some estimates much higher)? In Iowa, there were over 5,800 children needing foster care in 2025, with fewer than 2,000 licensed homes to meet that need (see https://www.fostercarecapacity.com/ for more facts & figures!).

Fostering is a difficult task, and foster parents need all the help they can get when it comes to supporting both their foster children and their adoptive or biological children through the process. But how to explain complicated issues (like foster care!) to young children? Enter: The picture book. Reading books to children provides an entry point for important questions and conversations. This May, let’s help get high quality picture books about foster care into the hands of more foster families!

Here’s how it works:

I have selected three of my favorite picture books related to foster care to be bundled together and donated, one bundle for every $45 donated in May. Here is the deal: you cover the cost of the books ($45 is the suggestion donation amount, to cover one book bundle, but you give as much or as little as you want); I will take care of sales tax, shipping costs, bundling and delivering the books to nonprofit organizations in Iowa that connect with foster parents.

Book bundles will include three picture books–one told from the foster child’s perspective, one from the biological child’s perspective, and one that is a gentle introduction to the reasons children are in foster care in the first place: because kids need to be safe.
Home for A While: A Foster Care Story by Lauren H. Kerstein ($16.99)
Sharing My Family by Jessica Pleuss ($14.99)
Kids Need to Be Safe by Julie Nelson ($12.99)

Donations toward book bundles can go directly to Expanding Circle Press via Venmo (click here: https://account.venmo.com/u/expandingcirclepress ) or reach out if you’d like to donate another way (e.g. mail a check).

Questions? Let me know! I would love to get book bundles to as many families as possible, so please spread the word!

Sharing My Family / Compartiendo Mi Familia available for purchase

Purchase links are live for Sharing My Family / Compartiendo Mi Familia, in three formats: hardcover (case laminate), paperback, and ebook (Kindle)! Order your copy today–go to our product page to learn more, or click below to jump directly to your preferred format.

Sharing My Family / Compartiendo Mi Familia
Pleuss, Jessica and Supiot Pérez, Christian
buy paperback ($14.99)
buy ebook ($5.99)

Sharing My Family is Available to Pre-Order

Sharing My Family / Compartiendo Mi Familia is now available to pre-order in ebook or hardcover format. The book releases September 1st, 2025. Ebook pre-orders will be automatically delivered to your Kindle on September 1st; pre-ordered hardcover copies should ship to arrive on or shortly after September 1. NOTE: We will be taking pre-orders for personalized/signed paperback copies for a limited time, in advance of the official launch party (a link to pre-order those will go live once we have a date & time set for the launch party, so stay tuned for more info!). See our products page for more information and purchase/pre-order links!

The bulk of the work is done…now to tweak and improve!

Guess what?! Illustrations are DONE…well, “done”…as in, we have an illustration for every single page of the book and every spot that needs one! Now comes the tweaking and finalizing…both for the text of the book and the illustrations. If you would like to weigh in, you can be a beta reader–this Google forms takes you to a draft of the book and you can provide us feedback on what you like, what you don’t, and things to improve! Click here: Beta Reader Feedback Form for Sharing My Family

And…we’re back!

The academic year was…busy. With academic things. But now that summer has arrived, there is once again time and space to focus on book-making! Here’s a quick update on where we’re at.

little boy peeking around corner
  • Sharing My Family, our forthcoming picture book about foster care, is well on its way. With illustrations nearing finished form we are hard at work on book design (as well as finishing up those illustrations!). We will soon be reaching out to beta readers for feedback on the near-final version. If you’d like to volunteer as a beta reader, let us know by filling out this form before the end of June.
  • Hard to believe that Radial Designs to Color and Draw has existed in the world for about a year now! It is available to purchase via Amazon for $8.99. Or, if you know the creator personally, she has a handful of copies sitting in her office that she is happy to hand deliver to anyone local at a discount–just reach out to her directly to learn more about that!

Now Accepting Pre-Orders

In preparation for launch day on June 4th, we are now accepting pre-orders for Radial Designs to Color and Draw. Pre-orders are available for a limited time (orders must be in by noon on May 29, CST) and are your only way to receive a signed (and discounted) copy of the book! This is a great option for anyone local hoping to grab a copy of the book at our launch party on June 4th (info in the pre-order form). Pre-order your copy of Radial Designs to Color and Draw here: https://forms.gle/EKS2fx53pQfnDUwR9