Local Chicken Soup for the Soul contributor offers up a new story for Pre-Teens

Emotional Tuning…

WRITTEN BY MEGIN POTTER PHOTOS BY WENDY HOBDAY HAUGH for pre-teens

There is something so nourishing about a nice, warm bowl of chicken soup. Stories and soup are similar; they both offer us sustenance when we need it most. Strong Feelings, Sensitive Solutions Middle school is a time of transition. Children experience changes in their bodies, but also in how they feel about themselves and the world around them. Knowing how to process these feelings is not innate - it is a vital skill that must be approached with sensitivity and reexamined throughout one’s lifetime.

The writer hopes this book will help her own preteen granddaughter, Lilli, navigate her preteen years;

Wendy Haugh holds Chicken Soup for the Soul’s new “Think Positive for Preteens” book. Cover of the preteen book in which Wendy Hobday Haugh’s story appears.

The personal, positive, and uplifting stories collected in the Chicken Soup for the Soul books help people of all ages understand their emotions. Of the publisher’s more than 100 million books sold in North America, more than 20 million copies of their 250+ titles are for children, teens, and preteens. This year, Northville author (and Saratoga TODAY contributor!) Wendy Haugh had her 17th Chicken Soup for the Soul story published. Changing Perspectives In five years, Wendy gave birth to three boys. “I could write regardless of what was going on in the house,” she said. “I loved hearing my kids playing happily as I wrote.” Over the years, she’d submit these works for publication in magazines including Woman’s World and Highlights for Children. For more than a decade, she’s also been writing a reflection column for the Calvary Episcopal Church’s newsletter. She also taught piano lessons for 22 years. Some stories, however, she just didn’t share until after her boys were grown. Now, she is coming out of her shell, transforming her work into a family affair that includes input from her husband, her children, and her two grandchildren. “Now, my boys are my editors. When they read the stories, they say, ‘Mom, I didn’t know that!’ I didn’t raise them chatting about my own youth. I didn’t bring them up with my own stories because I was busy watching theirs,” said Wendy. Reassurance: A Real Treasure Hope, confidence, gratitude, compassion, and inspiration are motivations that need continuous renewal. In Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive for Preteens, Wendy’s story, “Just Do it,” demonstrates how, as a preteen, she overcame her reluctance to help with day-to-day household chores. It’s a story about demonstrating gratitude and treasuring family. Without being overly moralistic, this story, like others in the collection, offers reassurance to the reader by exhibiting the knowledge that they are not alone in their feelings. “When something rang a bell in me and I could relate to the topic, I’d write about it, and by writing about it, I’d find out more about myself. These stories resonate because other families have had parallel experiences – they’re not exactly the same – but still, that’s the beauty of them,” said Wendy. Royalties from Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive for Preteens help support Kids in Crisis. To find out more about Wendy Haugh’s work go to www.wendyhobdayhaugh.com

The Chicken Soup for the Soul books in which 17 of Wendy’s stories have appeared;