Ralphy’s Rules for Feelings
Written by Talar Hercuilian Coursey and Riley Herculian Coursey
Illustrated by Meri Andreasyan
Ages 4+ | 36 Pages
Publisher: Purple Butterfly Press (2024) | ISBN-13: 9781955119450
Publisher’s Book Summary: We have big feelings!
Sometimes we don’t know what to do with them or how to change our thoughts that cause these feelings. The first day of school can be scary, but “Furrapist” Jackson Johnson and cute pup Ralphy of Ralphy’s Rules for the Good Life are committed to helping a busload of kids understand and manage their big feelings. During the ride to school, Furrapist Jackson Johnson teaches the children that they can choose their emotions and decide how to respond to them. Ralphy and Jackson make the complicated subject of emotional intelligence accessible for kids to understand and, more importantly, implement in their everyday lives.
So hop on the bus with us, and let’s learn about how taking charge of our feelings can change our day!
Available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Talar Herculian Coursey is a lawyer by day and a children’s book author, Life Coach, and philanthropist by night (more like mornings). She has been a General Counsel since 2011 and recently joined ComplyAuto, a privacy/cybersecurity SAAS company. Before going in-house, she was a file clerk, associate, and partner at the national labor and employment law firm Fisher Phillips LLP. Talar is a co-author of both #Networked: How 20 Women Lawyers Overcame the Confines of COVID-19 Social Distancing to Create Connections, Cultivate Community, & Build Businesses in the Midst of a Global Pandemic and Women In Law: Discovering the True Meaning of Success. Her first children’s book, Ralphy’s Rules for Living the Good Life, was published in 2021.
Talar has served as the President of the Salt Lake City Chapter of the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (“SOAR”) since 2015. SOAR, founded in 2005, supports orphanages in Syria, Lebanon and Armenia. She runs the Salt Lake City Half Marathon every year to raise money for SOAR in memory of her father. Net proceeds from her children’s books also go to SOAR. In addition to being a mother, wife, lawyer, life coach, and philanthropist, she is also a runner, yogi, and Jesus, Eckhart Tolle, Peloton, and Brandon Flowers groupie.
For more information, visit talaresq.com.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Life Is What It's Called - What inspired you to write Ralphy's Rules for Feelings?
Talar Herculian Coursey - I hired a life coach for the first time during the pandemic and learned concepts about our thoughts and feelings that changed my life. I asked my life coach, "why didn't someone teach me this sooner?" So, I told her that I was going to write a children's book so that I could start sharing these tools with kids at an early age.
As for the school bus, that was my co-author and son's idea, because kids have lots of big feelings on the first day of school.
Life Is What It's Called - What inspired you to write Ralphy's Rules for Feelings?
Talar Herculian Coursey - I hired a life coach for the first time during the pandemic and learned concepts about our thoughts and feelings that changed my life. I asked my life coach, "why didn't someone teach me this sooner?" So, I told her that I was going to write a children's book so that I could start sharing these tools with kids at an early age.
As for the school bus, that was my co-author and son's idea, because kids have lots of big feelings on the first day of school.
Life Is What It's Called - How has your background helped prepare you to write this book?
Talar Herculian Coursey - I would not have had the knowledge to share had I not worked with a life coach and gotten my life coach certification. My experience with life coaching was invaluable in creating the story.
Life Is What It's Called - Why is it important for kids to understand their big feelings and how will this book help them?
Talar Herculian Coursey - Big feelings will always be a part of our lives and the sooner kids understand how to identify them, feel them, and change them, the better equipped they will be in their little and bigger lives.
I learned through life coaching that feelings determine our actions and create our realities. We do not have feelings about a circumstance until we have thought about that circumstance. Until we have a thought about something, the circumstance is neutral - it is neither good nor bad. Our thoughts determine how we will feel about it.
In my book, I've used emojis to illustrate to kids what feelings can look like and first, emphasized that all feelings are valid and welcome. Second, the book teaches the kids, through Furrapist Jackson Johnson (my dog), how they can intentionally decide to sit with a feeling or choose another feeling. It's a very basic illustration of these concepts but given my audience, I wanted to make it as simple as possible.
Life Is What It's Called - In what ways is Ralphy's Rules for Feelings different from others on the market?
Talar Herculian Coursey - I believe that the use of emojis to illustrate the feelings and instruction from a "furry therapist" is unique to the book. I also strived to make the children in the story diverse so that more children could relate to it.
Life Is What It's Called - How is this book similar and different from the other children's book that you've written?
Talar Herculian Coursey - This book is the second of the Ralphy's Rules series. It's similar insofar it involves "adult" concepts that have been simplified for children. It's different than my first book in that it is more about our feelings rather than "rules" for not taking things personally and being brave.
Life Is What It's Called - What do you want readers to know about you as an author?
Talar Herculian Coursey - I am a lawyer by day and an author by night. I have my certification as a yoga instructor and life coach. I'm an Armenian immigrant, born in Beirut, Lebanon, and lived in Saudi Arabia until I was 12. I immigrated with my family to Southern California in the 7th grade and I remember how hard it was to be different.
I am an avid reader and invest heavily in my personal development. I didn't begin my self- development journey until I was in my 30s and wish so much that I had started it sooner. I have always had a calling to serve children and besides writing children's books, I also support Armenian orphanages in Lebanon, where I was born. The net proceeds from all my book sales go to the orphanages in addition to the annual fundraising I do with running the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. In the last 7 years, I've raised more than $100,000 for the orphanages.
Both Jackson Johnson and Ralphy are real dogs. I dog-walked Ralphy for two years before he moved away and got Jackson Johnson. All the kids on the school bus are real children. Riley is my son on the bus. Lakeisha is one of my mentees who is a second-year law student in Atlanta. Kairo is my other mentee's son. Indie is my stepsons' sister who has Downs Syndrome. Jaseena and Jude are my son's classmates.
GIVEAWAY
Talar Herculian Coursey - I am a lawyer by day and an author by night. I have my certification as a yoga instructor and life coach. I'm an Armenian immigrant, born in Beirut, Lebanon, and lived in Saudi Arabia until I was 12. I immigrated with my family to Southern California in the 7th grade and I remember how hard it was to be different.
I am an avid reader and invest heavily in my personal development. I didn't begin my self- development journey until I was in my 30s and wish so much that I had started it sooner. I have always had a calling to serve children and besides writing children's books, I also support Armenian orphanages in Lebanon, where I was born. The net proceeds from all my book sales go to the orphanages in addition to the annual fundraising I do with running the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. In the last 7 years, I've raised more than $100,000 for the orphanages.
Both Jackson Johnson and Ralphy are real dogs. I dog-walked Ralphy for two years before he moved away and got Jackson Johnson. All the kids on the school bus are real children. Riley is my son on the bus. Lakeisha is one of my mentees who is a second-year law student in Atlanta. Kairo is my other mentee's son. Indie is my stepsons' sister who has Downs Syndrome. Jaseena and Jude are my son's classmates.
GIVEAWAY
Enter the giveaway for the chance to win a classroom set that includes 25 copies of Ralphy's Rules for Feelings!
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