Tamika Abdul-Malik noticed that children in her elementary school classroom were carrying around their anger. She saw that it was leading to her students being unkind and mean to each other. When COVID began, she decided that she wanted to influence children in a new way by writing a book.
Helping children deal with anger
“Mad Marsha is a book about a young girl who just doesn’t want to do anything she doesn’t want to,” says Malik. The main character of the book becomes angry at her mother as she is getting ready for school. As Marsha stomps off to school, she has a special moment with nature, and her perspective shifts. When she kicks a flower a butterfly flies out. Marsha shifts her focus to the beauty around her, and her anger fades away. Abdul-Malik observes, “how can you be mad anymore after seeing that?”
Abdul-Malik believes that it’s important to help children focus on feelings and learn better ways to share their feelings starting in preschool and even younger ages. Children may be learning negative ways of expressing emotions “because that’s what they are seeing or that’s what they are watching or maybe someone is doing that to them.” Abdul-Malik wants children to understand and express feelings, so they won’t be as likely to act them out in ways that are hurtful.
Inspirations for the book
In particular, the book highlights that nature can make you happier. The message is that noticing beauty and what is good in life can impact attitude and behavior. The author draws from her own perspective. She loves travel, seeing new places, being around people, and enjoying life. She focuses on fun, smiling, and staying positive.
The biggest inspiration for this book as well as Abdul-Malik’s ideas for future books is her six-year-old daughter, Jayla. Her daughter loves the book. Jayla’s copy of the book is worn out from being used so much. She laughs a lot when her Mom reads the stories out loud to her.
All Abdul-Malik’s stories have characters with brown skin. “I want her (Jayla) to see books with little girls that look like her.”
The next book Malik is working on will talk about skin color. “My family is an array of colors…The best way that I felt to describe it to my daughter was to say ‘You are Jayla’s color. Mommy is Mommy’s color. We are all our own special color.” Abdul-Malik hopes that the next book helps children not put people in categories but see that each person is unique and special.
Book details
The book is self-published online. Abdul-Malik also connected with the illustrator online, Eleofanta, and was delighted by how the illustrations turned out. Mad Marsha is a picture book for preschool through early elementary school aged children. Parents and teachers can purchase Mad Marsha through Lulu Books, an online book publishing site at lulu.com.
RELATED: Read This: A Roundup of Children’s Books by Local Authors
Indoor Play Spaces in the Toledo Area
Cardinal Stritch Senior Named Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo’s 2026 Youth of the Year
