Every Day A Hope by Marci Matthews

EVERY DAY A HOPE

by Marci Matthews

Nonfiction

YA Selfhelp

132 pages

Through tiny stories and illustrations, Every Day a Hope encourages and empowers readers to examine emotionally difficult issues, while instilling confidence, introspection, and creativity. In each page, Marci M. Matthews addresses familiar concepts in a unique manner, designed to evoke thoughts, feelings, changes in perspective, and the ability to embrace the positive. The concepts in Every Day a Hope are taken from Matthews' work with survivors, but the book is accessible to anyone who wants to find new ways to approach life with a positive outlook. Accompanying pages encourage readers to embark on their own explorations by asking questions and providing space to draw, write, keep lists, and create in whatever ways inspire them the most. Marci M. Matthews is an author, artist, philanthropist, and Certified Advocate. A survivor herself, she is the founder of the Grace Initiative Foundation Tree, a charitable organization dedicated to the healing and prevention of sexual violence. In 2013, Marci received the RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) HOPE Award for Fighting Sexual Violence and Helping Survivors. She volunteers as an online and phone hotline staffer, a hospital advocate and more.

MY TIDBITS

This is a wonderful journal, which inspires girls (in my opinion) ages 10+ to grab their glitter pens and dig in. Every page offers a small, short phrase, which not only gives a small beam of hope and joy, but encourages girls this age to scribble their own thoughts right on the page. This isn't only about writing, though. Pictures, doodles, and all sorts of things can be filled in.

When I first picked up this book, I thought it might be preachy (self-help things in this direction often are), and I was pleasantly surprised to see that this isn't the case at all. The pictures and phrases are very general, and simply help to guide the reader to explore what they want to see in it. The help is very subtle, but exactly that what girls in this age group would be willing to embrace.

Actually, I was so excited by this book and am sure girls will enjoy doodling and using it so much that I bought my own teenage daughter a copy. And she didn't even give me that 'Mom' with an eye roll when I gave it to her because she thought the illustrations were so cute.



You can find this. . .

And here she is. . .

MARCI MATTHEWS!!!

Marci Matthews is a philanthropist, advocate, author and illustrator. Over the years, Matthews has worked with fraternities and sororities to support various charity events. She feels called to help survivors of sexual violence and is a trained and certified advocate with the Rape Crisis Center of Medina in Ohio.  She is also very active with the Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN.org), working for the online hotline, becoming a member of RAINN's National Leadership Council and a member of their Speakers Bureau. In 2013, she received the organization’s Hope Award for her deep involvement. That same year, Matthews founded the not-for-profit Grace Initiative Foundation Tree to support her philanthropic initiatives. 


If you want to learn more about her, feel free to head on over for a great interview with her on Kidbits!