To celebrate the release of her debut novel, former Newtown Public Schools teacher Gael Lynch recently returned to the place she once called home for a small book tour.

Lynch's middle grade novel, Ivy Leigh Ever After, released in January this year and centers on a spirited 11-year-old girl named Ivy Leigh. It has almost been a year since the death of her mother, and Ivy Leigh wants to remain the carefree girl she once was — playing in the mud, hiking in the woods, and chasing after frogs and butterflies.

Ivy Leigh's bottled up emotions tear her apart from the inside out. Not to mention, her grandma wants to take away her dog, her best friends pressure her to give up her overalls in place of ruffly outfits, and her arch nemesis, Winona, starts bullying her.

With so much change in her life, Ivy Leigh turns to the small circle of people who love her and remembers what her mother taught her: to be kind and compassionate above all else, no matter what challenges come her way.

The local book tour started on April 25 with a public book signing at Newtown Community Center.

This was followed by an author visit to Reed Intermediate School on April 27, when Lynch talked to fifth grade students about her book, her life and history as a teacher, and the importance of embracing ideas. Beyond answering students’ questions, Lynch had a segment where she gave students a list of words, and had them circle three words that were most important to them and write a story using those words.

Lynch visited Head O'Meadow Elementary School on April 27, April 28, and April 30 for what she said was "more of a writing lesson." She helped kids think of ideas using playful strategies that she has used herself. Afterwards, Lynch shared her own idea and a few pages of an early reader story she has spent the past few years working on.

She also stopped at C.H. Booth Library on April 29 for a workshop titled, "So You Want To Write A Children's Book." In this workshop, Lynch talked about the business side of writing, detailing her journey to publish Ivy Leigh. Lynch also went over her creative process, the market of traditional publishing versus independent publishing, and the general writing knowledge she has gathered over 25 years.

Call It A Homecoming

Writing for middle grade students has been particularly special for Lynch. She spent most of her years as an educator in Newtown Public Schools.

Lynch worked in a small program for special needs children before moving to teach kindergarten and, later on, second grade at Sandy Hook School. It was there that a former professor caught up with her and queried her about her writing.

Even as a teacher, Lynch still wrote and even told stories to her students. She received a lot of encouragement to continue writing, and so she did. Lynch eventually moved to Reed Intermediate School and, as she describes, "opened her heart" to the same-aged voices she hoped to write for: fifth and sixth graders.

It was through her years in teaching intermediate students that Lynch learned as much as she taught. She heard students share their stories and grew to understand their wants and needs not just as readers, but as kids.

Lynch said she spent much of her time walking her dog around the Fairfield Hills area, which she lived by at the time. Whenever an idea struck her, Lynch would hurry home and jot it down on the page. Lynch would also play the "What If?" game, where she would ask herself a question that starts with "what if..." and work from there.

"I started saying to myself, 'what if that girl had problems like the kids in my classroom?'" Lynch said. "I'd listen, pay attention, and before I knew it, a story arc came to me, with problems and a solution that wasn't quite clear yet."

She asked students what they wanted to be when they grew up and told students, "If you dream it, you can do it."

Writing has been Lynch's dream for a long time. She grew up hearing her father share fairy tales and Irish legends, and this love for storytelling followed her ever since. When Lynch was in college, she did a children's literature course and absolutely fell in love with kids books.

Lynch kept writing in the decades that followed, writing around four books that went unpublished. She went to a conference for one of these books and somebody told her that it was a huge leap for a debut.

"And I chickened out. I shelved the book," Lynch said. "I doubted myself, so when I went to the C.H. Booth Library event, I told them, 'You can't doubt yourself because you just never know.'"

Write On

Lynch said she is now in the last third of her life and is going through another reimagining of herself. She thanked the number of people who believed in her and Ivy Leigh, whose encouragement inspired her to keep pushing forward.

Things kept happening that "couldn't keep Ivy Leigh from happening," according to Lynch. Her friendships helped connect her to a marketing agency, book designer, and illustrator for Ivy Leigh.

Now, with the book out in the world, Lynch said it has been amazing reconnecting with her old friends from Newtown and talking to a new generation of students.

She wants children, or anyone who reads Ivy Leigh, to take away the importance of looking around and studying the people around them.

"I want them to know that there's always help. No matter what kind of challenges they face, no matter how hard things can get sometimes, there are always helpers everywhere ... Even though it may look like people aren't paying attention, they will always be available for a child who needs them," Lynch said.

She also spoke on the importance for kids to look around, see who is not being included, and give them a chance to be part of a group.

This idea of inclusion and connection is important to Lynch. She has a blog called Small Circles, which she wrote on for years but does not anymore.

For Lynch, who lost her mom when she was 3 and her dad when she was 11, "it was always the small circles of people around me that lifted me up and helped me get through.

"And I never forgot them for that," Lynch added.

She made sure that, when writing Ivy Leigh, she did not talk down to kids or have the "teacher" side of her come out. Lynch would ask her critique partners to make sure that the kids were experiencing Ivy Leigh through Ivy Leigh's eyes, not being preached to.

More than anything else, Lynch hopes she can inspire kids to create and be kind. Lynch said she is now working on the sequel to Ivy Leigh, though it is still in early development.

A big part of what she has learned is to fight doubt and keep moving forward.

"I have been getting all kinds of signals from the universe, and I'm stepping over that old self of me," Lynch said. "You're never too old to learn, because why not? I don't know why I put those roadblocks in front of me, but now, I'm just not doing it anymore. I'm stepping over the doubt and going forward."

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.