Don't Shine Into My Speaker!

About the Book

Deni walked through the children’s room, dressed in her kindergarten apron, pretending to be a princess. “I am a plincess,” she announced toward Bebe, her older sister. “Why, you don’t even have a crown, so you are no princess!” “I do have a clown!” (Poor girl, she had no clue what she was talking about, but she didn’t want to give up easily.) “And where is your kingdom, if you are a princess?” Bebe asked. “I do have a kindom!” Deni maintained her opposition, although now she could by no means understand what the talk was all about. “Okay, so be it, princess.” Bebe gave up the fight and left. Deni smiled happily, sat on her bed, swung her feet, and had no idea what truth she had just said. Or had she? Blessed are the poor in the spirit, for theirs is the kingdom the heavens.

About the Author

Alena Konečná lives in the Czech Republic with her husband and their eight children—five biological and three in foster care. She co-founded a non-profit organization to raise public awareness of issues related to institutional care, and to offer support to alternative families. She also established and runs a horse-riding club for children from substitute families and orphanages. The Czech Republic has one of the worst systems of care in Europe, with a very high percentage of children living in residential care institutions. Institutional care is the most widespread form of substitute child care in the Czech Republic, while support services for foster and adoptive families are difficult to access, disjointed, and often ineffective. Alena Konečná is one of those exceptional foster parents who strives to respond to this great need. The reader is invited to search “sala maka sinkis deniska” on Youtube to hear Deni singing.