Verity Finds Her Voice

When quiet, shy Verity eventually finds the courage to speak up, she discovers that standing on her own two feet can be amazing!

Verity is a shy preschooler who is accommodating and quiet, and always does whatever others tell her. She picks up after her friends, has no say in games, and even plays second fiddle to a drooling baby at the doctor's office. After a typical week of quiet deference to everyone around her, Verity is miserable.

But when she is overlooked at swimming class (her most favorite thing of all), Verity realizes something needs to change - and she discovers within herself the courage to speak up. What she finds is that by speaking up in a polite, positive way, she can change her world for the better and find joy in asserting herself.

Verity Finds Her Voice will help children who might be a little scared to speak up learn that not only is it okay to be assertive, but it can bring happiness, and that being a good friend to yourself is just as important as being a good friend to others.

About the Author

Kristin Kelly is a children's picture book author and tutor for children with additional learning needs in New Zealand. Across her career she has also worked as a nurse, preschool teacher and educational leader. Her previously published books include Mitchell Itches (EK Books, 2024) and The Squeakling (Scholastic, 2024), which won the 2023 Storylines Joy Cowley Award. Kristin wrote Verity Finds Her Voice after observing a shy young child in her class who, she felt, might benefit from some gentle encouragement to speak up and set boundaries. Jasmine Berry is a children's book illustrator and a graphic designer for an education publisher, living in Western Australia. She began drawing to impress the other kids as soon as she was old enough to hold a colouring pencil. But lately, she crafts these exciting and magical worlds with her computer, iPad and many coffees. Her previously published books include Where's My Dinosaur? (Riveted Press, 2021), Troll's Tall Tales (Riveted Press, 2021), Mila & Ivy (Wombat Books, 2022), and the Pepper Masalah series (Wombat Books, 2023).