This month, we are very excited to have a chance to highlight a fantastic author, educator, speaker, and family man, Jeff Kubiak!  Jeff has written 3 books and is hard at work on his 4th.  The first one, One Drop of Kindness (also available in Spanish) is about, you guessed it, Kindness. 

This book really resonated with us at The Blue Rose Foundation. So much so, that we borrowed the idea for our Kindness Challenge from Jeff and his book. The premise of the challenge and the book is that kindness, like a smile, is contagious and just one drop of kindness can grow and change the world.  

In case you didn’t hear about our kindness challenge, we think February is the perfect month to spread not only love, with Valentine’s Day, but love through kindness. We challenged everyone to spread kindness in large and small ways! To read more about the Kindness Challenge, please check it out here. 

Jeff was kind enough to answer some of our questions about his books and kindness.

~A conversation with Jeff Kubiak~

TBRF: What propelled you to become an author and write your first book One Drop of Kindness?

Jeff Kubiak: I have always loved to write; journal, blog, etc. I felt that at the time, our world needed some more kindness, so I began writing about it. The book kind of just happened from the process. 

TBRF: How long did it take you to write ODOK?  

JK: The entire process took about a year. I wrote many versions, had a bunch of friends, and educators do some editing, and even about 50 students gave me suggestions! 

TBRF: How has kindness changed your view of children, school, and the world, especially during covid?

JK: Believe me, I think COVID brought out the worst, and best of our world. Many people dug deep and became more aware and intentional of how to be more kind, compassionate, and caring of others. Some people, on the other hand began blaming COVID on all bad things in life. It’s been a tough time for many. 

TBRF: Where did the idea for It’s Me come from?

JK: There are so many students, and adults in our schools and communities that have been marginalized,  biased, and made to feel less valued. I tried to put together vignettes, written by each “real life” character to help bring more awareness, compassion, empathy and understanding for others.

TBRF: How long did it take you to write and compile all the wonderful poems for It’s Me?

JK: These are actually real vignettes written by the people in the book. It took a bit a time to get in touch, edit, and motivate them, but about 6 months or so.

TBRF: What can you tell us about your next book?

JK: Thank you for asking! My next book is super cool and something very different. It is a work in progress but about Monsters having manners and using their influence to help us remember to be polite and think before speaking.

TBRF: What message do you want to share with the parents, teachers, and kids that may see this? 

JK: Life is difficult for many kids AND adults. Let’s be graceful, patient, and kind and be focused on helping others first. Words do matter, and help us formulate our actions.

Jeff Kubiak was so generous, he gifted all our partner schools his three books. We asked the schools if they wanted to do a kindness challenge as well!  Check back on a future blog for some more kindness challenge ideas the schools came up with!

Please send us your kindness challenge ideas too! #TBRFKindnessChallenge and Tag us when you post.

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