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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Linda F. Radke
Story Monsters LLC
480-940-8182, 855-777-5475
info@StoryMonsters.com

Hi-res photos available upon request


Siblings Often Struggle in Silence When a Sibling Is Diagnosed with Cancer — Jamie’s Journey Gives Them a Voice

CHANDLER, AZ (September, 2016) — When a child is diagnosed with cancer, the entire family is affected. While attention rightfully turns to the child receiving treatment, siblings are too often overlooked—though never intentionally. Jamie’s Journey: Cancer from the Voice of a Sibling by Sharon Wozny gives those siblings a voice. Told with honesty and compassion, the book helps children acknowledge and express complex feelings—sadness, worry, anger, jealousy, guilt, and love—while reassuring them they are not alone.

The book also includes a guided journal section led by Speckles, Jamie’s beloved stuffed animal, encouraging siblings to process emotions through writing, drawing, and creative self-expression. Speckles also comes to life as a one-of-a-kind performance puppet used by the author, offering a tangible source of comfort.

“Publishing this new edition of Jamie’s Journey is both a privilege and a responsibility. As I enter my 40th year in publishing, I feel strongly that this book fills a painful gap for families agonizing over a young member’s cancer diagnosis. Too often, siblings are unintentionally lost or forgotten in the process. Jamie’s Journey shines a light on their voices and offers a key to hope, helping keep families united.” —Linda F. Radke, Publisher, Story Monsters Press

Jamie’s Journey is more than a story—it’s a practical, hopeful resource for families, educators, childlife specialists, and counselors who want to support the whole family during a pediatric cancer journey.

In the second half of the book, readers learn that Jamie finds solace expressing her feelings in a journal. The book then takes journal form, including helpful prompts, giving siblings a safe place to share their own experiences. “Journals allow healing to take place,” said Wozny, encouraging readers to let their emotions loose. “Write it with love,” she writes. “Scribble or doodle away your anger or frustration. It’s all good! What matters on these pages are your feelings.”

In time to honor Childhood Cancer Awareness month in September, Jamie’s Journey: Cancer from the Voice of a Sibling ($12.99 US) is slated for national release on September 16, 2016. For more information about Jamie’s Journey: Cancer from a Voice of a Sibling, please visit www.SiblingCancerBook.com.

 

Reviews

 

The book will really help kids deal with all of the feelings.

It is sometimes hard to make a "voice" in a book, but Sharon Wozny made it happen. I'm a sibling whose sister has cancer. It is really helpful to read about someone whose sibling also has cancer, even if it is a fictional character. The book will really help kids deal with all of the feelings that Sharon Wozny said, such as: jealousy and guilt.

— Abby E. Kerr, age 10

Unique and very highly recommended.

Wozny has made the second half of the book an interactive journal, offering siblings of pediatric cancer patients a safe place to share and work through their own feelings and write about their own personal journey. "Jamie's Journey: Cancer from the Voice of a Sibling" is unique and very highly recommended.
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— Midwest Book Review

The world needs a book like this one.

Though geared towards the sibling relationship, this book could easily be related to anyone with an emotional connection to a cancer patient. Through defining the feelings accompanied by such tragedy, readers may begin to identify and connect with the narrator's perspective.
 

— Sherry L. Hoffman

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