Life Lessons and Tales of Little MisFit  by S.K. Grunin

Ivy Sue Klutz (Little MisFit - LMF) finds one of her first memories confusing. This is when she is three and a half years old and is at her sister Lynn's birthday party. Their cousin, Janet, asks the partygoers to guess what Lynn's birthday present is as the truck delivering the present is backing up to the front porch of their house. Unbeknown to LMF, Janet told the other kids not to really guess that it's a bike. You guessed - LMF guesses that her sister is getting a bike for her 5th birthday present. But instead of everyone being happy that LMF guessed the right thing, everyone is mad at her and none more than her mother. LMF runs off to her soon-to-be baby brother's bedroom and tries to hide behind his dresser, with her mother hot on her heels, yelling at her all the way. From this experience and many others through her 4th grade years in school, LMF learns the Life Lesson that Life Isn't Always What It Seems. 

In Life Lessons and Tales of Little MisFit – Book 1: “Life Isn’t Always What It Seems,” we are introduced to the main character as she narrates her first memory at the age of three and ties it in to Lesson 1.  The book continues through tales about Lesson 1 through her fourth year of primary school where we leave her.  Book 2 picks up with LMF starting her next year of school at the age of ten and learning the next Life Lesson that “Life Isn’t Always Fair.” 

Many people growing up are often made to feel inadequate or not to fit in in situations, as a former probation officer, executive/life coach and professor, Dr. Susan Grunin, learned through humor and working with others – particularly children and young adults, how to fit in those uncomfortable situations.  She believes that it is important that children learn at a young age how to manage these issues and to use humor to build their own self-esteem.  Thus, she created, Little MisFit, (LMF) a fictional character, who through humorous tales, shares life lessons that she learns as she is growing up.  Through these stories, LMF describes how she learned to overcome many life challenges and accept who she is as a person.  Furthermore, the tales allow adults to share their own tales without coming off “too preachy” and to be able to share their own life lessons with their children and/or grandchildren or other loved ones. 

This is the second book in the series of Life Lessons & Tales of Little MisFit. The first book, Life Isn't Always What It Seems, is the winner of the Fall 2020 Pinnacle Achievement Award in the Young Adult genre and the Top Ten Finalist for the 2021 Author Elite Award in Middle Grades/Children's Category. Book 1 also has more than two dozen five-star Amazon reviews (including a UAE book newsletter). One reviewer said that the book is "for the child in each of us." Another: "It's a laugh-out-loud, fun read."