Who is Laehli?

Many of us can relate to Laehli, the main character in Laehli & The Elephants. 

She's feels different. She doesn't fit in. She feels unloved by her peers. 

What Laehli doesn't realize is that the qualities that makes her different are actually her strengths. 

She's a young, inquisitive, creative girl in Thailand who happens to be deaf. 

She escapes to find solace in the jungle and befriends a baby elephant Aat, who is also lost.

What Laehli discovers in her adventures, as depicted so well in Kellie Fitzgerald's four-book children's series, is that friendship, acceptance, kindness and compassion come in all sizes and species. 

We are connected by love, the unconditional kind that doesn't judge us but values and loves as we are. It's a simple, yet profound message. 

Maybe, like Laehli, we need to expand our search for friendship and draw to us those who enbody qualities of the heart, who appreciate us for being who we are not whom they want us to be.

There's so much beauty in the Laehli & The Elephants stories about character, compassion,  kindness, working together and sharing commonalities. These are qualities that children can take to heart.  Jody Doty