{"id":24375,"date":"2025-07-20T18:58:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T18:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/24375\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T18:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T18:58:11","slug":"belleville-teacher-pens-pigpal-book-to-help-kids-overcome-anxieties-of-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/24375\/","title":{"rendered":"Belleville teacher pens PigPal book to help kids overcome anxieties of change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Nancy Grachek Hodges has taken some of her experiences as a preschool teacher, used them to write a children\u2019s book and is promoting the book in the area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cPig Pal and Cow\u201d uses barnyard animals to talk about fear of new situations and the problems of fitting in and making new friends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">She credits friend and fellow teacher, PJay Boeving, with the idea of the character Pig Pal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWe always call each other \u2018pal\u2019,\u201d Grachek Hodges said. \u201cAnd she came up with the pig.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The story starts when a small gray spotted pig arrives at Cozy Lane Farm. She squeals with delight but then is frightened when the other animals laugh at the sound of her snort.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">How her new friend, Cow, helps her adjust will help children navigate the newness of change, said Grachek Hodges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cPJay and I have been pals for many years and decided to create a children\u2019s book with lessons to learn and a message that conveys what happens when we listen to our friends with love,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The character Farmer Dan in the book is based on Daniel Scally of Belleville, who helps with school-age children tours at Braeutigam Orchards in Belleville.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Farmer Dan in \u201cPig Pal and Cow\u201d is based on Daniel Scally of Belleville.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/65142e718580723fd43840c594bf8a65.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Farmer Dan in \u201cPig Pal and Cow\u201d is based on Daniel Scally of Belleville.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Grachek Hodges, of Belleville, retired after a career teaching at Presbyterian Community Preschool. Boeving teaches at Mother\u2019s Day Out Preschool.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The illustrator is Paul D. Turnbaugh from Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The two women have been touring with the book, visiting schools and were part of a local artist book signing at Belleville Books in May.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\u201cPig Pal and Cow\u201d co-authors Nancy Grachek Hodges and PJay Boeving (seated) with Belleville Books owner Rob Eckman\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/135b16c5df3a0c855dc204739f5ee91e.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPig Pal and Cow\u201d co-authors Nancy Grachek Hodges and PJay Boeving (seated) with Belleville Books owner Rob Eckman<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Grachek Hodges said they have been thrilled with the enthusiastic reception the book has gotten.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The pair are working on another book for the holiday season. Called, \u201cPig Pal and Cow\u2019s Christmas at Cozy Lane Farm,\u201d it should be out in November.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cPig Pal and Cow\u201d is available from Amazon and Belleville Books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nancy Grachek Hodges has taken some of her experiences as a preschool teacher, used them to write a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[21660,21659,223,21655,21658,21661,88,21656,21654,21657],"class_list":{"0":"post-24375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-barnyard-animals","9":"tag-belleville","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-childrens-book","12":"tag-cow","13":"tag-cozy-lane-farm","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-grachek-hodges","16":"tag-nancy-grachek-hodges","17":"tag-preschool-teacher"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}