Finding Grateful

Posted on 05/07/2024

Chronicle Books | 978-1797211237

In April of 2020, just weeks after we officially entered the pandemic, I sold the manuscript for FINDING GRATEFUL, a picture book about noticing and naming the many things we can be grateful for each and every day. The spark for the book arrived by way of a podcast I’d listened to over a year earlier. The host had mentioned something called a gratitude walk. Though I’d never heard the term, I immediately loved the idea of a more intentional kind of walking that focused on engaging the senses and paying attention to the things I saw, heard, smelled, touched, and tasted.

I put on my shoes and starting walking, noticing the many things I was grateful for in my neighborhood: purple flowers, a clacking motor, cut grass, even a web-like climbing apparatus at the park. These became the seeds of the story to come.

Like many of my picture books, the journey from initial spark to completed manuscript took time and multiple drafts. Finally, in mid April of 2020, Finding Grateful was aquired by Chronicle Books. Later that year, the amazing Faith Pray signed on to illustrate. I adore the world she created for this story, and the sweet family – a mom and child – who discover all the ways gratitude could be found in ordinary things — a wave, a smile, a puppy — making even the unplanned development of a broken down car, manageable.

© text by Dianne White, illustrations by Faith Pray

From the publisher:

What does grateful look like? How does it feel? How do you find it? Even in the face of a challenge, you don’t need a map: You just need to pay attention to the little things—a smile, a hug, the smell of newly cut grass—that add up to a sense of presence and hope.

With evocative, lyrical prose, this warmly illustrated children’s book is a reminder to pause, reflect, and take in the glimmers of positivity and connection that can be found amid even the most difficult circumstances. Both a timely meditation on finding gratitude in everyday moments and a timeless ode to the simple joy of truly being present, Finding Grateful encourages readers to slow down and embrace the beauty of being right where they are.

© text by Dianne White, illustrations by Faith Pray

FOR MORE: