Have you ever had an absolutely AWFUL day?
Maybe you're the new kid. Being a new kid can be SUPER hard.
Or maybe the new kid just joined your hockey team... and he's a better player than you!
It's hard to practice kindness when something is going wrong and you're just feeling BLUE...
I think Ari and Mainer's story will help.
Buy The Book!
Join Ari's Club!
Teaching kids kindness is tough!
And THAT makes life tough for parents and teachers!
We wrote Ari's Awful Day / Mainer's Move as a tool to help parents and teachers to navigate some pretty important themes with their kids and students. The book teaches lessons about...
- Kindness
- Being the new kid
- Making friends
- Accepting people who are different than us
- Racial differences
Buy The Book!
Put kindness into practice!
We didn't want to just write an entertaining book. We wanted to help kids practice what real friendship looks like. When you subscribe your child to Ari's Kindness Club, your child will receive a membership card and a special gift in the mail and monthly membership emails.
Those emails will have:
- Exclusive additional stories from Ari, Mainer, and their friends!
- A special kindness challenge!
- A colouring page
- Activities
- AND the chance to submit your pictures and kindness stories which could be published online or in future editions of the Kindness Club email.
My name is Ari.
I've been known to let out a gigantic sigh from time to time!
This is the story of how I got things very wrong and made a new kid feel super bad.
I think it worked out though in the end. What do you think?
My name is Mainer.
I'm the new kid and I'm a bear. It seems like wherever I move, I'm ALWAYS the only bear in town.
I'm just glad there's a hockey rink close by. That's where I go to make new friends.
It was a bit tough in this town. At least one kid was tough...
Activities for Kids!
Resources for families!
Lessons for teachers!
Did you know?
- The Ari's Awful Day / Mainer's Move was written for K-2 students.
- We wrote the book at a grade 3-4 reading level.
- We have resources for parents and teachers to help you get the most out of the book for your kids and students.
- We have created a special Kindness Club for kids!
- Book #2 is already being planned!
Real kids really love Ari's Awful Day!
"This book teaches kids valuable life lessons. Like learning to include other people and not judging people by the outside."
Aftyn, age 8
"I learned that it's not good to treat someone mean just by how they look."
Fallyn, age 6
"AWESOME!"
Scott, age 5
And so do adults...
Wanted to highlight a new book by Jermaine Loewen, a DAL draft pick who played in the WHL. It’s a great concept explaining his experiences as an orphan from Jamaica growing up in Manitoba. More info: https://t.co/Cs5xPYv9eq. Order link: https://t.co/q3CJsmn3Wi pic.twitter.com/jNNMytrFy6
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 28, 2020
Meet the authors!
THOM VAN DYCKE is the illustrator and one of the co-authors of Ari's Awful Day/Mainer's Move. He's has been writing stories for a long time and started loving art when he began private art lessons in grade 5.
Thom and his wife have 8 children, some who were born in their home and other's who joined their family. They have welcomed 30 foster children into their family since 2011.
JERMAINE LOEWEN was born in Jamaica and adopted into a family from Manitoba, Canada when he was five years old. His love for hockey began at a young age, but it was only when he turned 16 that it became obvious that he had rare talent for the game!
In 2018 he was drafted by the Dallas Stars and in 2019 he began his professional playing career with the Vegas Golden Knights affiliate team, the Chicago Wolves. He has lived with the pressure of racial prejudice for much of his life and has a story worth telling!
Together with Thom, they were able to capture small themes from his story in the character of Mainer.
