Title: Stairway to Heaven: Grandma Has Gone Home
Author: Stella Baeza
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1-6655-1702-7
Genre: Children / Young Adult / Illustrated
Pages: 30
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Synopsis
Stairway to Heaven: Grandma Has Gone Home is a heartwarming, reflective, and reassuring story that chronicles one child’s experience with the loss of a beloved grandparent. In this experience, Molly has lots of questions. Molly’s desire to make sense of her world without her grandma brings to light the reality that life is short and that there will never be a right time to say goodbye to a loved one. Lost in her world and making some sense of why our loved ones leave, she finds that there is a shimmering light of hope. Molly is better able to make sense of this difficult time by piecing together her memories of what it was like when Grandma was around. She begins to understand that her memories are what will carry her throughout the rest of her life as she learns to accept that Grandma will no longer be an integral part of it. Better yet, she learns that Grandma will be a constant and permanent memory that will remain in her heart forever.
About the Author
Stella Baeza began her work as a social worker and as a substance abuse case manager serving adults with addictive behaviors. This experience propelled her desire to continue her work serving students with behavioral needs in a school setting. It was while Stella served as a school counselor with the McFarland Unified School District that she began to write this book. Students she served were affected by the then-highly prolific cancer mystery that plagued the farm town of McFarland, California. Many students on campuses within this district lost loved ones. The community was left grasping for answers in the aftermath. Stella’s work with students led and inspired her to write this book in the hope that children young and old would be restored as they experienced the loss of loved ones. Stella earned an MA in Educational Counseling and credentials in educational administration, pupil personnel services (PPS), and marriage, family, and child counseling (MFCC). She also earned a single-subject teaching credential in Spanish and degrees in sociology and psychology. Stella’s professional career and focus have been her work with children, teens, young adults, and families. She has served as an elementary, middle school, high school, and college counselor. She has also served as an elementary principal and taught Spanish and ELD (English language development). Stella lost her father as a young adult and later experienced the loss of her husband, Ralph Braboy. Stella is all too familiar with the loss of a loved one and its impact. It is her hope that this book will inspire, support, and serve as a tool to those who are experiencing a loss and struggling to find hope, meaning, and joy. She presently serves as a high school intervention counselor serving students with challenging behaviors. She intervenes to restore and sustain positive behaviors and teaches anger management techniques to students. This book is long overdue.
