Hopping Off on a Business Trip By Dr. Shellie Hipsky Illustrated by Alyssa Nevin

The Total Tutor Neil Haley will interview Dr. Shellie Hipsky.

New Children’s Book Helps Comfort when Mommies Hop off on a Business Trip

Dr. Shellie Hipsky, editor-in-chief of Inspiring Lives Magazine and president of the Global Sisterhood non-profit, released her first children’s book Hopping Off on a Business Trip on December 13, 2016.

The book was inspired by her own struggle to help her children understand that when she had to speak at a conference out of town, she was thinking about them and coming back as soon as possible. Using a family of kangaroos based on her own family, Dr. Hipsky lets the child kangaroos express their feelings about Mommy being gone, as well as their coping mechanisms.

“I wanted to develop a fun book that encouraged children to use their imaginations to cope with their moms leaving for a couple days,” Dr. Hipsky said. She did just that. Sister kangaroo Savannah explains to her brother Cecil that she imagines herself traveling with Mommy on all her adventures. When Grandma (GrandRoo) makes a special surprise to help Cecil, Dr. Hipsky’s work demonstrates the ability of a family to come together to solve a problem.

Dr. Hipsky takes this idea to heart, having her own daughter, Alyssa Nevin Hipsky, illustrate the book. At just 9 years old, Alyssa did an internship with artist Kathleen Belskey to hone her artistic talents and develop the illustrations for the book cover and interior.