The longest journey in Brenda Bradford Ward’s life was not one of distance but of permission. Permission to speak. Permission to be seen. Permission to live honestly. After decades of exploring silence–her own, or that imposed by society the author has been turning to a different audience, one that is younger than usual and severely wanting in support, with her forthcoming book for children marketed for 2026.
Being a Turtle is a modest book, gentle worded, with a simple tone. Yet the book is most subtly powerful of all and soft-spokenly elegant at the same time. This is not a political statement or a lecture. Rather, it is a tale about character, patience, and self-acceptance, for both children who fail to fit in this world surrounding them and adults who try to understand them.
A New Direction, Rooted in a Long Journey
Ward is very renowned for her previous work, a considerably and positively reviewed book that joined autobiography and social science to inspect the psychological cost of suppressing one’s identity. Such book was much appreciated by the people who are becoming young scholars, psychotherapists, and adults dealing with the multifarious issues of gender, conformity, and well-being.
Being a Turtle may be seen as concerned with another chapter in the big book of human existence, an early one as it addresses the first moment when a child realizes he/she is different, slower, quieter, or maybe more inward, from those all around. And reassurance, or the lack of it, in return then molds ever forward an entire life.
The move from an academic hybrid of 600 pages to a children’s picture book, one could say, is quite a big leap. Yet, for Ward, it is but a progression rather than a departure. If Forty Years to Life looked into the effect of enforced silence on human life for decades, Being a Turtle now queries how this silence might be prevented in the first place.
What Being a Turtle Is About
The tale features a turtle in a fast-paced world expecting all the inhabitants to move at an equal rate. The turtle prefers the quiet and occasionally ponders and even hides within its shell. This manner of behavior, in the animal kingdom, is not well understood by others. While some find her impatience, few are curious, and many are simply presuming that the turtle should be otherwise altogether.
Instead of developing the conflict through drama backed up with visible action, the work also contains an accumulation of events. These small everyday beats oscillate between sweet misunderstandings, little gentle awakenings, and self-realizations. The turtle learns its shell is not an inferiority, for it is probably the finest place to look through; to take stock in ones’ contemplation, and reflect around. The world does not require the turtle to change; it has to make space.
Ward avoids labels, diagnoses, or explicit social commentary on purpose. There is no sermon about morals and no specific interpretation. The children may see themselves in the turtle in any liberated context they choose: maybe one is shy, neuroatypical, introverted, or just simply overwhelmed by the loud world.
What Readers Can Expect
When Being a Turtle is released in January 2026, readers can expect a book that is:
- Emotionally safe
The story reassures children that difference is not a problem to be solved. It offers comfort without urgency and acceptance without conditions. - Inclusive without being prescriptive
Ward intentionally leaves space for multiple interpretations. The book welcomes children of many experiences without telling them who they are supposed to be. - Accessible to adults and children alike
Parents, teachers, and caregivers will recognize the situations and conversations the book gently invites, making it a valuable tool for classrooms and homes. - Illustrative rather than argumentative
Like many of the best children’s books, Being a Turtle teaches by showing rather than telling, allowing empathy to arise naturally.
Writing for the Next Generation
Ward indicated that she aimed this book toward her younger self. She grew up in a culture that rewarded conformity and discouraged self-discovery. Consequently, she learned, very young, to hide part of herself to belong. Being a Turtle becomes her gift to children who might already feel the pressure she remembered feeling.
It is also a book for adults who might not yet have the language to best support a child who moves in the world uniquely. Ward worked with metaphor, rather than instruction, to create the shared space in which they could begin their first tentative conversations.
Why January 2026 Matters
Stepping into the new-year, January 2026 launches Being a Turtle–a moment loaded with symbols and intentions. Foremost in the reader’s thought at this time is the question of growing up, identity, and education, all now overlaid lightly with such narratives that are diametrically opposed. While clearly distancing itself from politicization while keeping equally clear distance from fundamentalism, this book does not–in the style of a wisewoman fire a shot through the middle. It just stands very, very quiet next to it.
A moment of grace is insufficient to overshadow such somber reminiscences; beyond and above the policies, there is the human need for identity.
Being a Turtle is likely to be considered by libraries, schools, or families to serve as a reflective resource to turn to throughout the different phases of a child’s growth. Its simplicity empowers the message to grow with the reader.
An Author Who Refuses Silence, Gently
Though Ward is a speaker and conversationalist and has appeared on The Spotlight Network with Logan Crawford discussing anything and everything mental health, late life transition, and the empathetic experience of lived experience.
Future plans include an audiobook edition of Forty Years to Life and additional children’s literature inspired by the meaning encoded within Being a Turtle, stories that focus on nurturing social-emotional skills like emotional literacy, patience, and self trust.
Her faith boils down to only one premise that crosses all her works and all audiences. Silence hurts when imposed. But, oh, let there be any understanding early, and it will change everything.
A Small Book With a Lasting Impact
Being Turtle is not loud or revolutionary. It is being present. For the child seeking reassurance. For the parent groping for words. For the teacher trying to make room.
A lifetime shoring up the consequences of invisibility, Brenda Bradford Ward tells children, in soft and tender tones, Do not disappear in order to belong.
Where to Learn More
Author Website:
https://brendawardbooks2.com/
Upcoming Children’s Book:
Being a Turtle
Publication date: January 2026
Updates and preorder information will be available on the author’s website.
Current Book:
Forty Years to Life on Amazon
https://a.co/d/1NkMCAw
Connect with the Author:
Facebook: Brenda Bradford Ward
