Readers converge on Bradley for day

by Melissa Bower, Ft Leavenworth Lamp Staff Writer
Thursday, March 6, 2008

When Jenny Sokol wanted to read a book to her children about Soldier deployments, she had trouble finding one - so, she wrote her own.

Last week during Bradley Elementary School's Leap into Reading Day, Sokol read her book to a class of third-graders. Children were treated to dozens of readers including a former player for the Kansas City Royals, a Fort Leavenworth firefighter, musicians from the University of Kansas marching band and other members of the Fort Leavenworth community. Members of Bradley's Site Council organized the activities, led by parents Amy Rowell and Marcie Bennett.

Brig. Gen. Mark O'Neill, deputy commandant of the Command and General Staff College, asked children to imagine their favorite animal.

"When you read, you can create your own special picture of it all," he said. "That's the magic of reading, that you get to picture it all for yourself."

He read "Jackalope" to Bradley sixth-graders.

Principal Brian Schwanz said it was important for children to hear from adult readers.

"The students can see how important reading is to all walks of life," he said. "It's not just important to authors, it's important to everyone."

In "I'm a Hero Too," Sokol tells the story of a boy whose father is deployed. The boy talks about being nervous and scared about news of the war and how he misses his father. "My emotions seem to change every week," the character says. At the end of the story, the boy realizes he is part of a special family that serves his country.

Sokol, Fort Leavenworth mother of two, wrote the book when her husband, a Marine, was serving in Iraq. She said it was important for children of deployed parents to access reading materials that make them feel comfortable about military life in wartime.

"This should be their normal," she said. "They should be able to have those materials at their fingertips."

Sokol said sometimes while reading the book, it made children cry. Not because of the story, she said, but because of their own fears and concerns. Although her oldest is in first grade, she said even preschool-age children understand when a parent is in danger and sometimes don't know how to explain their feelings.

"We always say kids are so resilient, but that's because they have to be," she said. "This allows them to communicate."

Sokol writes for the Orange County Register and CincHouse.com, and Author House published her book. Bradley staff use the book for counseling.

Brogan Retka, Avery Bartlett and Ryan Vervisch, fourth-graders in Ann Hattok's class, listened to British Army Maj. John Clark read poetry.

"It's important to read," Vervisch said. "You may learn different things from it, and some stories are very fascinating."

Retka said she likes to read about countries where she plans to move.

"(Reading) is important because you can learn different things about different cultures," she said. "I was in Germany for three years and when I was getting ready, I read a book about it."

Students at Bradley began taking their Kansas state reading assessment tests March 3. Schools on post had other reading activities this week in celebration of the birthday of Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, who would have turned 104 March 2, and Read Across America.

Observation Post, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center

April 20, 2007
by Rachelle Stiger

When her husband first deployed to Iraq in 2003, Marine wife Jenny Sokol combed bookstores and online book venues for a children’s book about deployment for her kids, now ages 4 and 6. The only children’s books she found on military life, Sokol said, didn’t convey the very real anxiety of having a parent at war.

Sokol said she remembers thinking, “I can’t be the only one who wants this for their children.” So she set her sights on writing a book that addresses the concerns of today’s military kids.

In Sokol’s newly published book, “I’m a Hero Too”, a little boy deals with the sadness of saying goodbye to his dad and the worry of knowing his dad is often in danger. In the end, the boy realizes that he is a hero himself for making it through such a difficult situation. Ideas for coping with deployment are woven throughout the story, directed at 4- to 10-year-olds.

It’s a book that Sokol wishes had been available to military families earlier in the war. “It’s something that should’ve been out there,” she said.

After two deployments and two simplified home-made versions of the book, Sokol decided to make her dream a reality. But, the process of getting published wouldn’t be as easy as she hoped. “I got a lot of rejection,” she said. “That sort of rattled me.”

When Sokol pitched the book to publishers, they told her that its target audience was too niche of a market for their profit likes, and that the topic would be too serious for kids. She decided, instead, to finance the publishing of her own book through a self-publishing company called AuthorHouse. “I had no editor. I basically just hired an illustrator and told him what I wanted on every page,” Sokol said.

Sokol said she doesn’t expect to make her money back on the sales of her book. “It’s a very niche book. You’re not going to buy it unless you’re military,” she said.

That’s why she’s approached organizations that serve military families about having copies of her book donated to families with kids through their programs and at pre-deployment briefs. Copies of the book can be bought and donated through her website www.jennysokol.com. “To come across that book or have it donated, you don’t feel so alone,” Sokol said.

Through her book, Sokol wants every military family to know: It’s not just the dad who’s a hero; it’s the whole family who’s making a sacrifice.

Of course, Sokol also said she hopes this book is the beginning of a writing career. To that end, she has arranged several book promotions on the radio and at libraries and organizations. Her most recent appearance was at the Twentynine Palms Public Library, where she sold 55 books and was surprised to see mothers crying while she read the book to their kids.

Sokol graduated from the Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science in English and served five years with the Navy. She has written a weekly column on military life and motherhood for the Orange County Register since 2003.

Her husband is an instructor for Mojave Viper at TTECG. Their family will be moving in June to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.


                           Lance Cpl. Nicholas M. Dunn
Jenny Sokol signs a copy of her book "I'm a Hero Too" 
Tuesday at the  Twentynine Palms Public Library                            


The Buzz about "I'm a Hero Too"

"A heart-pulling book that will make you cry and smile. Filled with simple but important messages of what helps children get through deployments. The perfect book for a military member to give to his/her child during a deployment.”

Kathie Hightower, Coauthor of Help! I’m a Military Spouse — I Get a Life Too!


Sun Post News, May 14, 2007
Local Writer Returns with a Strong Message
by John Hall, Hall About Town

Heeerre's Jenny!!

Marine wife, mother and writer Jenny Sokol, that is. She's coming to San Clemente Saturday to speak at the library about her new book, "I'm a Hero Too," that is a poignant account of what it's like to be a kid in a military family during wartime.

Coming BACK to San Clemente, I should say. She's been raising her own two kids, 4 and 6, on the Marine base at Twentynine Palms for the past two years, and when her husband returns from his second deployment in Iraq, the Sokols will be transferring next month to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the typical military merry-go-round for career officers and soldiers.

Before Twentynine Palms. of course, there was Camp Pendleton. "My family still considers San Clemente home after living there for nearly 10 years," she wrote back after I e-mailed her a few questions. "When we need a San Clemente fix, we drive out and visit St. Clement's Episcopal Church, hit the used bookstore, get bagels at the Bagel Shack, watch for trains and dip our feet in the sand and surf."

She's been writing a weekly Wednesday column in the Register's Life section for four years now, but I remembered that before that she had several columns in the Sun Post News, and--writing with a rare touch at being able to mix charming humor with her serious observations on the human condition, military and otherwise--she was a slam-bang hit right from the start.

I recalled saying in HAT at least five years ago that it was a real pleasure to be sharing Page 2 with such an outstanding talent. "Yes, my first writing job was with the Sun Post," she said. "That's another reason I'm so thrilled to be coming to San Clemente for the book-signing. It's a special town that truly embraces military families." I've never actually met her, and yet I feel like I know her very well through her columns, and I think that's another sure mark of her skills at dancing around so impressively with the printed word.

Shortly after her debut here, she got together with the Register about doing some articles "written from the perspective of an USMC spouse." Presto, it quickly became a weekly feature, one of the most admired columns in the paper.

As for her book, that's another ballgame. She finally put it together, she said, because she couldn't find the right one discussing and maybe easing the wartime pressures on military families to read to her own kids.

She explained it in her May 2 Register piece. "Being a kid is tough," she wrote. "First, you've got to learn to share, sit still and eat vegetables. When you've gotten the hang of that, the bullies, puberty and acne arrive.

"During wartime, being a kid in a military family is extra tough...The battle against worry and fear can be constant and exhausting. When Dad or Mom is in Iraq, acne troubles pale in comparison."

Jenny pointed to a study by Dr. Vernon Barnes, a physiologist at the Medical College of Georgia, whose research on the subject was printed in the January issue of Military Medicine.

Dr. Barnes found definitely that military offspring have higher blood pressure, heart rates and general stress levels than their peers.

So there she was, unable to find any reading material that conveyed the real anxiety of having a parent at war, and she went after it. "I thought I can't be the only one that wants this for their children," she said.

"I'm a Hero Too" specifically is about a little boy dealing with the sadness of saying goodbye to his dad and the subsequent constant worry of knowing his dad is often in danger. In the end, the boy realizes that he is a hero himself for making it through such a difficult situation. Ways of coping with deployment are gently interjected throughout the book that is directed in particular at 4- to 10-year-olds.

Because it is aimed at such a special and limited audience, Jenny knew it wouldn't be easy to get the book published, and it wasn't. "I got a lot of rejection and that rattled me," she told reviewer Rachelle Stiger. Publishers told her that her target audience was "too niche a market" to make a profit.

She finally went to a self-publishing company--AuthorHouse--and financed the printing of the book herself. She was a bulldog in getting it done. "I had no editor. I basically just hired an illustrator and told him what I wanted on every page," she told Stiger. Jenny doesn't expect to make any money with it because she agrees that it is "a very niche book" and that you are not going to buy it unless "you're military." But she's hoping that some in the general public will buy it to donate to military families.

Whatever the outcome at the cash register, she decided it was all worth it instantly after reading the book to her daughter's kindergarten class. "The children, most of whom were familiar with deployment, frowned, giggled and clapped in all the right places, a reward far sweeter than any I'd imagined," she wrote in her own column.

She sold 55 books at her signing party at the Twentynine Palms Library, saying she was surprised (and pleased) to see mothers crying as she read the book to their kids.

OK, the next stop is our San Clemente Library at 242 Avenida Del Mar this Saturday from 10 a.m. until noon. We should buy a ton of her books for the Camp Pen kids...or any other kids in town, for that matter. We're all in this together.

When we finally get Iraq behind us, I'm sure this book is just the beginning for her and that she will be authoring many others. An Annapolis grad, she has a Bachelor of Science in English from the Naval Academy, and she served five years in the Navy before marriage and motherhood. She's got a lot of great stories to tell, and she knows how to do it.

Welcome back, Jenny, you are a delight in the first degree.