Kapalua Cove Publishing recently introduced the initial two books in its new series, EQ Explorers, designed to inspire and empower children through fun, educational stories focused on themes of emotional intelligence—or EQ. The titles, Wally Whale’s Mighty Tale and Compare Bear’s Double Dare, are the first from author, entrepreneur, and mother of six Kim Linette. Soon to follow will be Jojo Giraffe’s Big Laugh, Lulu Llama and the Triangle of Drama, and many more. The EQ Explorers books weave magical stories of friendship and learning, geared toward children ages 5-10.
One hundred percent of profits from the sales of Kapalua Cove books go to help children and families in need around the globe through non-profit Kapalua Cove Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to provide resources and inspiration for children to dream big and develop emotional health. Direct donations are made to charitable initiatives and books are donated to orphanages, remote libraries, care centers, and more.
Diversity and inclusion are also key components of the EQ Explorers series. Author Kim Linette includes children from a wide variety of cultures as her starring characters. She chooses animals from various countries and locales. Her goal is to give children a broadened world view and a sense of traveling the globe as they read the series.
“In ancient Hawaiian, ‘Kapalua’ means ‘arms embracing the sea.’ It’s a word that perfectly depicts our desire to embrace and nurture children and families all around the world,” says Kim Linette.
I have a chance to give away a copy of each book. To enter, leave a comment with what you know about EQ. Deadline is 10/25.
Why did you write these books?
I spent more than two decades learning and practicing the principles of emotional intelligence (EQ) that I share in each EQ Explorers book. I first learned about the concept of EQ while I was a young mother. At the time, I realized that I had *everything* I wanted—a wonderful marriage, six fabulous kids, a successful business and career—and yet I didn’t feel *happy* in the way I thought I could or should.
With the help of a therapist, I began to explore my emotional well-being—my ups and downs, self-worth, self-confidence, and more. Through these sessions, and through years of personal growth and work, I came to know and embrace EQ as a critical life skill and key to happiness.
Something else very powerful happened: as my happiness increased, my children’s happiness increased, too. As I shared and modeled the principles I learned with them, and in turn they incorporated these principles into their lives, they became happier individuals.
Research backs up what my family and I experienced. Studies show that EQ is a key component to living a happy, successful life. And—unlike IQ—EQ can be learned. I was inspired to create EQ Explorers to help other parents fast track the lessons that took me over 20 years to uncover and internalize, and to share this emotional understanding with their kids in a fun, connected way—cuddling up together with a book.
The EQ Explorers books weave magical stories of friendship and learning, geared toward children ages 5-10. Each story stars a child and an animal who adventure together to discover and understand EQ principles, such as “happiness is a choice” and “be yourself—don’t compare.” The principles taught in each book (i.e. the morals of each story) have been proven to help boost happiness and healthy human connections. They are intended to benefit child readers and their parents and caretakers alike.
I quickly realized, however, that writing and publishing the books was not enough. I felt compelled to help nurture children all around the world—especially those facing socio-economic challenges—by providing the tools and opportunities they need to live happy, healthy, emotionally connected lives. That’s why one hundred percent of profits from EQ Explorers goes to Kapalua Cove Foundation—the foundation I created to give direct donations and donations of books to orphanages, remote libraries, care centers, and more.
Why is it so important for kids to start learning about emotions early?
Children (and adults alike) often fall in the trap of believing that happiness is determined by external factors: what happens to them, what they have, or how other people perceive them or treat them. In truth, no matter what happens to us or whatever comes or doesn’t come our way, we have a choice. We can choose to make the best of any situation.
The key principle of one of the first EQ Explorers books is the fact that “happiness is a choice.” In Wally Whale’s Might Tale, Wally knows that we always have the choice to choose to gratitude for what we have—and not get hung up or envious about what we don’t. This simple fact can empower children, helping them avoid the pitfalls of blaming or expecting other people or things to create their happiness. Instead, when they realize they have the power to choose their own happiness, they can put their time, focus, and energy into creating big, happy lives.
I can give you similar reasoning for the importance of each principle of emotional intelligence—those taught in the first two books, which we recently released, and those in the two-dozen-plus more books to come. My dream is that the generation who grows up with the EQ Explorer series will have a big head start in life. They will be able to save all the energy so many people waste, running in circles with faulty emotional patterns. Instead, they can skip all that and use their energy to create happy, emotionally fulfilling lives. They can become inventors, creators, entrepreneurs, or anything they’re passionate about. And above all else, they can develop deep, meaningful connections with others.
How can parents use books to start discussions about EQ?
The EQ Explorers series is intended as a toolkit of stories and questions to aid parents. I know firsthand that parenting can be exhausting—so the books are a smart, fun, and easily accessible way to bring this important element into childrearing. I’ve created the content, so other parents don’t have to!
The series is intended to be edutainment—educational and entertaining, all at once. That’s why each story features a unique, lovable animal character. The animals help create a fun, non-threatening, and never-boring way for kids to learn valuable principles of emotional intelligence. At the back of each book, you’ll find the “Let’s Explore” section, with conversation-starter questions and exercises to help parents and children dive deeper into the EQ principle taught in the book. The questions are designed to help kids understand how the lesson of the story relates to their personal experience. We feature additional activities and resources pertaining to each book and principle on EQExplorers.com (at no extra cost).
In my family, the characters, principles, and language from the EQ Explorers series have become part of our household vocabulary. “Are you Compare Bear-ing?” “Happiness is a choice—how do you want to feel?” “Don’t take it personally—he’s just thinking like a zebra.” These are all things you might hear in our home. When children become familiar with the EQ Explorer stories, family members can refer to principles of emotional intelligence with simple, common language. This can be a game changer in terms of communication dynamics. It makes expressing emotions more fun and it helps as a gentle way to bring up topics that could otherwise feel heavy or judgmental.
One of the unintended benefits of this series—something that I know to be true in my family, and that I’m hearing about from early readers of the books—has to do with the universal importance of the EQ principles within. While the books are written for children, the stories and principles open up dialogue for teens, parents, and family members of all ages alike. Something powerful happens when the entire family is, excuse the pun, but “on the same page.”
About Kapalua CoveWe are dedicated to educating and empowering children and adults to live happy, healthy, emotionally connected lives through the joy of books. One hundred percent of the profits from Kapalua Cove Publishing go to help underserved children through Kapalua Cove Foundation. The foundation provides direct donations to charitable initiatives and donates books to orphanages, remote libraries, care centers, and more.
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