Issue 05 · April 2026 · Origin of "Little Star"

A lot of people have been asking where the idea for my first book came from. The honest answer is that it didn't begin with me, it began with a stranger, a poem, and a room full of people learning how to heal. Let me take you back about ten years.

I was finishing up a year-long certificate course in narrative therapy at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. The whole point of the program was learning how to sit with your stories and find the healing inside them. It was one of the most formative years of my life, and by the end of it, I thought I knew what I was walking away with.

But the best part was still to come.

At the close of the year, we were tasked with offering three words of affirmation to each person in our cohort. Simple enough. I'd been doing it all day, doing my best to capture my impressions of those in my group, and listening as people offered their words to one another. It was such a special time.

Then it was my turn. I was last.

Each person affirmed things they'd observed about me in the group and things they'd discerned from the stories I shared. Last to share was a man I hadn't really connected with much. I didn't know him well, and I wasn't sure what to expect. When he stood up, instead of three words, he had written me a poem.

There once was a star so bright, all the universe stared in awe

But the Star Council was jealous

"How is it she is brighter than we?"

So they conferenced and beat their chests, decided banishment would be best

And sent this threatening little star to the farthest corners of the darkest night

Ages passed it seemed, and then as if in a dream something

in the absence began to reflect her beam

"We saw your light from far away and had to come see for ourselves

The one they sent away

And now we see just as they did, though we won't fear Your beauty

Do you mind if we sit and stay and rest inside your brilliance?"

And with a nod that little star became the sun that held their orbit.

-By Bradley Cook

It was the most seen I have ever felt.

The way he used metaphor and language reached something in me that I didn't even have words for. When we were leaving, he came and found me.

"This poem is yours," he said. "Do whatever you want with it. I've never written a poem before. I'm never going to write one again. I really hope it's a gift to you."

The poem had a childlike, luminous quality to it and over the years I've had the recurring thought, "this would make an incredible children's book."

That poem, written by a man I barely knew, became the foundation for Little Star.

My hope for Little Star is it will help others feel as seen as this original poem did for me.

I'm so glad to finally be sharing this with you.

Until next month,

Cathi