Today is the day I have been working toward for a long time.
Alia’s Snow Day With the Angels is officially published and out in the world.
I have been thinking about what to write here for weeks. I kept trying to write something clever or formal and it never felt right. So I am going to say the simple thing instead.
I wrote this book because I remember what it felt like to have a story read to me as a child that made me feel seen. Not just entertained. Seen. Like the author knew something about me that I had not yet been able to put into words.
I read to my children every night when they were young. I watched their faces. I saw the moment when a story reached them somewhere deeper than their minds. That is the moment I have always been chasing as a writer.
In Alia’s Snow Day, a little girl goes outside on a snow day and two angels come to play with her. They tell her that only children with pure hearts can see them. They take her into the forest, where the animals already know she is kind. They build a snow castle together. They learn the secrets of snowflakes. They say goodbye in the soft light of sunset.
It is a simple story. But I wanted every child who reads it to feel, even for just a little while, that their kindness is the most magical thing about them. That the world around them sees it. That a pure heart is not something small.
This book is dedicated to my late mother, Juana, who was a great teacher and a loving mother. She inspired me to be who I am. And to my late husband, Thomas, who was a great husband and father.
I hope this story reaches a child tonight who needs to hear it.
With love,
Alida Hall
