Jelly Beans the Cheetah and Hope

In "Jelly Beans the Cheetah and Hope," the unlikely pairing of a sad little girl and a captured cheetah discover how much they share in common when they embark on an adventure in friendship. They've both experienced profound loss, but persevere through sharing empathy, kindness, joy, and love. Together they learn about their connection to the human family and to all, which provides for their self-esteem and a feeling of wholeness. Jelly Beans the Cheetah and Hope is a vehicle for empowering youth with empathy to spring into compassionate action! Compassionate action refers to the positive impact youth can make by caring about the plight of all people. Set in Tanzania, Africa with the Barabaig tribe, the book encourages youth to identify with the characters as they experience difficulty, persevere, model empathy, and then are shown empathy by the tribe. Together, these special friends demonstrate our connection to all, including the endangered cheetah, showing that we all belong.

SissyMarySue is a lifelong Minnesota educator. She is widely recognized for her innovative Jelly Beans Creative Learning approach that focuses on emotional competence, critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, language learning, and the natural world. After retiring the Jelly Beans Creative Learning brand, she launched SissyMarySue, producing books that focus on literacy, emotional competence, critical thinking, and world themes. Using her books as content, her play/drama approach has been effectively implemented in many classrooms from pre-K to middle school.Through speaking and training, SissyMarySue demonstrates her philosophy that empowering youth with empathy and an understanding of our shared humanity results in more tolerance, peacefulness, and harmony. Classroom management is less of an issue when we empower our youth with empathy, equipping them with emotional competence. This empowerment inspires youth to spring into compassionate action in service for their world.