A Guide to Magical Creatures

A Guide to

M

A Playful Journey for Fun-Loving Families

Copyright © 2020 Darren Fink All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

To request permissions, contact the author at darren_fink@hotmail.com Paperback: ISBN 9781949856279 First paperback edition: June 2020.

Edited by Felecia Neil Cover art by Alexandra Brodt Layout by Alexandra Brodt Published by Transfiguring Adoption in the USA

Dedication From the Author, Darren Fink: This book is dedicated to Cody, Matthew, Jasmine, and Dalton. Without you, the birth of these magical creatures would not have occurred and other children would not benefit from the play experienced by our foster and then adoptive family. To my wife, Margie, thank you for seeing the value in these stories and imagination, and thank you for showing our whole family, but especially myself, what true committed love looks like when played out in real life.

Special thanks to former foster youth, Felecia Neil, who showed meticulous care and concern for looking through the content in these pages so that children from traumatic places are transformed through play awaiting them and their caregivers.

Thank you to Brandy, Chelsea, Dani, and Steven for orchestrating an excellent event which helped to fund this book.

Thank you to the Transfiguring Adoption Elf Squad and the many fans we have connected with at conventions for not only supporting the idea of this book but for showing the world through your events, cons, and lifestyle that a group of banded-together individuals CAN bring about positive change in the world - even through play and kindness.

From the illustrator, Alexandra Brodt: This book is dedicated to my parents, who were endlessly encouraging and supportive of my art career throughout their lives, and to Kyle, who has been there for me through it all.

3

A Word From Adult Adoptee and Actor, Chris Rankin - Known for His Performance in the Harry Potter Films as Percy Weasley The Magical world is a wonderous place. It has brought happiness and light to many many people over the years. Myself included.

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to meet Darren and Margie, the founders of Transfiguring Adoption at a Harry Potter Convention, and we got talking. I was adopted at birth, and although my journey to adoption was a lot smoother than that of many young people, the work Transfiguring Adoption do with young adoptees and fostered children has touched my heart.

The world of “make believe” is a helpful tool in role-playing, of exploring the sub-conscious fears and worries, not to mention exercising the brain and enjoying the creativity of story-telling.

From the magical world of JM Barrie’s Neverland, where fairies are literally kept alive by the imagination and the belief of children, to CS Lewis’ Narnia, to JK Rowling’s Wizarding World, where a young orphan finds his chosen family among people who love him unconditionally, there is so much to be said for storytelling.

This wonderful book brings imagination to life, and offers fun and simple ways to communicate some of the more complex and stressful areas surrounding being fostered and adopted.

Chris Rankin (Percy Weasley - Harry Potter Films & Transfiguring Adoption Patron) https://www.chrisrankin.co.uk/ andromedatalent.com

5

Foreword // We Saw A Need With Our Foster Children Our family loves to pretend and play games. When our children were younger, we created magical creatures that live around our home. Some of these games of pretend were derived from the needs my wife and I saw early on when our children were still in the foster care system:

1. Playful engagement

Our kids were survivors of rough situations, and they didn’t have time to learn how to play. We would show our 23-month-old a toy car and he would merely express confusion. Even our five-year-old daughter would destroy toys rather than use them for games of make-believe. They would follow us around the house aimlessly. Our children needed to be taught how to play, and we as adults needed to show them how to pretend.

Dr. Karyn Purvis, a leading researcher and advocate in the field of working with foster and adopted children, emphasizes the importance of “playful engagement” with “children from hard places” in order to connect and to build trust. This is an excellent way to do that!

2. Recapture the childhood lost

As I already mentioned, our children were dealing with issues of survival early on instead of playing. Many of us would consider it a crime to rob a child of that magical time when they are young and everything is possible. Discovering magical creatures around the home allowed our children to daily reclaim some of their lost childhood.

3. Explain the mysteries of everyday life

Some of the creatures help with fears such as nightmares. Many of our creatures explain certain phenomena such as: Why do some kids wake up with tangled hair?

Why are there creaking noises around the house at night?

Why are there thunderstorms?

Our children enjoyed these creatures so much! I can’t prove it, but I suspect that a couple of them even eventually caught on to the game though continued to pretend for a good many years. Even as most of our kids are now teens, they still have great fun talking about those magical creatures that became a part of their lives.

7

How To Journey Through This Book Together?

1. Read one chapter TOGETHER per sitting.

This guide was intended for parent and child to read together a bit at a time in order to give both of you time to experience the playfulness and accompanying activities for each creature.

2. Make it more than a story!

Children often learn best through modeling. Parents are going to have to model the pretend for your child(ren) by talking about the creatures amidst everyday life. Do your best to show them how to pretend and have fun. This might mean that some adults are going to have to remember what it was like to pretend.

Let the guide book help you.

3. DOWNLOAD the complimentary parent activity guide.

We have created a collection of useful activities which accompany the creatures in this book. If you find it’s difficult to pretend yourself, these activities will help you to get the ball rolling. Each activity was architectured to help children work through a fear, trauma-caused behavior or simply bond when playing with their caregiver. The parent guide is a complimentary and downloadable E-book when you visit the following link. www.creatureactivity.com

4. The “A Quick Look…” Box.

At the beginning of every chapter, parents will notice a box with the title, “A Quick Look At This Creature’s Main Topics.” This section is to be used in coordination with the Parent Activity Guide (see above).

These boxes allow parents to conveniently see which activities more adequately address the issues in their household compared to others. Again, the information in these boxes might still be informative for parents but will not be able to be fully utilized without the Parent Activity Guide.

5. Is it alright for your child to know this is all a game?

Yes. Some children from traumatic backgrounds in fact may have a difficult time separating fantasy from reality. It is fine to explain from the start that your family is taking part in a pretend game and subsequent activities. This will reinforce that it is important for even adults to play. Foster and adoptive kids know that the world is full of strife, BUT you can show them that it is a joyful world as well.

NOTE: This book (and its parent guide activities) are intended to be a creative and playful way for your family to connect and make memories while possibly tackling some serious topics. This book and its content are NOT meant to be medical advice or professional counseling advice. The authors of this book and Transfiguring Adoption also believe that parents should work with trusted doctors, therapists, counselors, and other professionals to successfully work through issues in life.

9

Introduction Hello friend, My name is Jasmine. I’m nearly ten years old now and live with my adopted family. I WAS in the foster care system when I was little. When I first moved into my adoptive home, my adopted parents started introducing me to magical creatures around their house - I thought they were CRAZY. I don’t anymore.

I’m helping my family write this Guide to Magical Creatures Around Your Home because so many people have forgotten about these creatures. My mom and dad said that a long time ago people wouldn’t have thought that it was silly to believe in things like fairies or Dipsy Toads.

Today, people only believe what they can prove with science or see with their eyes. In fact, our family thinks that the reason you may not have heard of many magical creatures is because people have become so interested with the study of the physical world that they have stopped looking for signs of magical creatures around their homes.

However, I think that even though science made people forget about these creatures, science could also help us find them again.

10

We are hoping by writing this guide, some good students will be able to help us learn more about these creatures. That’s right. We need folks who show an interest in math, reading, science, art, and so forth to help us find out more.

Please read about the creatures in the following entries and be on the lookout around your home for signs of their existence. We encourage you to send us letters, pictures, and details about any creature that you find. You might even discover a creature my mom and dad don’t yet know about.

Please contact us through the usual means: E-mail: info@transfiguringadoption.com Instagram: @MagicalCreaturs Facebook: @MagicalCreaturs Twitter: @MagicalCreaturs My family and I are counting on you. I think once you start to see the signs of these magical creatures that it will get easier to find more. Maybe we can help others to start believing again too.

We’re looking forward to your findings.

11

A Quick Look At This Creature’s Main Topics: • Nightmares • Sleeping

Chapter One Dipsy Toad (dɪpsi: təʊd)

The Dipsy Toad is a wondrous creature. In appearance, they tend to look like any other toad. In fact, most Dipsy toads will be found in moist locations, such as near a pond, a swamp, or a riverbank. While they do not like to be immersed in water, they still enjoy the damp conditions like their non-magical cousins. The Dipsy toad can be told apart from their non-magical brethren by a few simple facts.

Appearance Dipsy toads are larger than the common toad. While the most common toad might be 4 inches in length, the Dipsy toad can grow to be almost 10 to 12 inches in length. A few Dipsy toads have been known to grow up to 2 feet in length; however, this is definitely not the norm with this group of magical creatures.

The Dipsy toad looks like any other common toad. The colorations tend to be earthy browns and greens with a few being somewhat gray.

12

The biggest difference in outward physical appearance is a marking on the Dipsy toad’s forehead. All Dipsy toads bear a crescent moon symbol which makes it easy for observers and saliva collectors to distinguish the toad from a non-magical toad at a distance.

The last physical feature that we will note about the Dipsy is that it has a larger and less sticky tongue than the non-magical breed. The mouth of the Dipsy Toad also tends to secrete more saliva than the typical toad, which we will discuss more in the magical properties of this interesting creature.

13

Magical Properties Many creatures in the magical world around you may have a multitude of magical properties. However, the Dipsy Toad is simply known for one special talent which has been labeled as the Dipsy Kiss.

Once a Dipsy Toad is caught, the catcher can try and coax the toad to lick them with its robust tongue. One so-called “kiss” from this animal will subject a person to the magical saliva within the beast. Dipsy Toad saliva ensures the recipient will have good dreams during the next night’s sleep.

As you can imagine, many parents, especially foster and adoptive parents, have sought after this magical animal so that their children will not be scared during the night. Consequently, we do not see many Dipsy Toads in the world anymore due to numerous parents capturing them in the 1700s. Dipsy Toads must hibernate during the winter in deep tunnels that they create under the surface to avoid the cold of winter.

Since homes in the 1700s rarely kept good heat in the winter, many of the captured Dipsy Toads perished under these circumstances.

People have discovered since the saliva is the true magical substance, and the animal itself does not need to give the Dipsy Kiss even though there is strong evidence that a fresh kiss from the toad will yield better dreams than merely using the saliva. Nonetheless, if you find a Dipsy Toad, you would do well to collect some of its saliva in a vial. The vials may be kept at room temperature for as long as it keeps a blue hue. Once the substance turns true white, you know the magic has faded.

14

Things You Should Know Dipsy Toads are harmless to humans but they can be harmful to other magical creatures such as Little Folks or Tangerellas. A hungry Dipsy Toad will feed on such creatures in order to survive. Since many of these other creatures live indoors, there are very few stories of the Dipsy Toads dreadfully harming them.

Dipsy Toads do not survive well in captivity. Once caged they tend to get depressed. During prolonged captivity, even the magical dreams of a Dipsy Toad will become stale. While they are friendly toward humans, it is best to leave them to their freedom.

A Dipsy Toad diet consists of insects just like its nonmagical cousin. Dissimilarly, the Dipsy Toad will only drink of water that holds a reflection of the moon and for this reason, these animals will be less active during a New Moon in order to conserve energy and avoid dehydration.

The Dipsy Toad’s magic is not always 100% effective, but it will give the sleeper more pleasant dreams than what they were going to have that evening. We suggest talking about nightmares with a trusted and safe adult as it seems to help remove them from the sleeper’s head little by little and allow the Dipsy Toad magic to work more efficiently.

15