I have spent many years thinking about ways to help children, especially children whose parents are in the military, deal with some of the struggles and challenges they face in everyday life. Through the life of Riley, I hope that this book helps kids and families deal with some of the challenges they face.
Before I was a Marine, I was a reader. Mysteries, Christian fiction, everything I could get my hands on. My parents were divorced, and I was moving through those years the way a lot of kids do, looking for somebody in a book who felt like me. I never quite found her.
I spent eight years in the Marine Corps Reserves as a Combat Engineer, and seventeen years after that in security at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Along the way, I built my foundation with a bachelor’s in criminal justice from Norwich University, a master’s in elementary education from the University of Phoenix, and a master’s in creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University. My life tends to stay full.
What I came to understand was that my story was a lot of other kids’ stories too, just with different details. The family going through hard things. The parent who was away because of military service. The new school where you had to figure out all over again where you fit. The faith that held you together when everything else felt uncertain. None of that was unusual. It just felt that way when you were in it and couldn’t find it in a book.
Riley is where all of that landed. She’s a lot of me. Not all of me, but enough. She moves constantly because her mom is in the Air Force. She plays basketball and leans on music, faith in Jesus, and words of wisdom from the people raising her. Those words come from both my mom and my dad.
Ready to meet Riley?
Meet RileyI’m not a person who gives up easily. Eight years in the Corps helped with that, and so did seventeen years in security. So did coaching basketball and teaching sixth grade, years that gave me a front-row seat to how kids experience challenges and victories.
These days, I’m home in New Hampshire with my husband Jared, our daughter Natalie, and my stepson Douglas. Natalie and I homeschool together, a journey we are both loving. I’m also working toward a doctorate in education at Rivier University, writing my dissertation on physical security in schools. My life’s different chapters always find a way to talk to each other.
I didn’t write this series because the world needed another children’s book. I wrote it because I believed the right story at the right moment can change how a kid sees themselves. And I knew that kid was still out there looking.
Want to reach K.C. directly? Write to her here.