How To Read This Book

How To Read This Book

(An Introduction)


For The Little Ones


Hello little one! 

I’m so glad you are here and ready to grab this little book I made for you, yes, you. You are probably being read this book by someone you love, in the coziness of your bed, while wrapped in a warm blanket, or maybe you are now reading this by yourself on a cozy corner of your bedroom. Either way, I’m proud and happy for you!

You see, life is a journey, not just a thing we come here to do. It doesn’t just happen to us. We have to go out and live it – and at first, it’s hard to know where to begin. 

This is a book that will teach you where to begin.

It is a trip where you will have unexpected surprises, happiness, obstacles and so much more. You are just discovering and starting to understand what life is, how it feels and how it works in many ways. There is so much more that you will continue to experience as you grow. And this little book wants to be with you in that journey to remind you how it’s all good, how you will always be okay and how you can always feel good at all times and anywhere in the world. Yes, at home and the world! Exciting, right?

I want this book to be one you can keep with you at all times when needed, one to remind you of your own power, of all the love around you and how these are the most important things you must know about yourself and life.

It would be lovely if you can read this book in good company, with a thick pillow and a warm blanket while in your favourite corner of the house – and why not, maybe even with a bottle full of warm milk (make it chocolate milk, mum and dad!). As you read this book, feel free to ask questions. You will have many! And that’s perfect. Ask them all and let your imagination be free. 

Maybe you want to crawl inside a huge, soft pillow-castle, and hide in there while you read, or maybe you want to cuddle with your pet, mum and/or dad on the couch, or maybe you want to take it to school and ask your teacher to read it for you and your friends. 

Whatever you decide, this book is for you and it wants you to be happy. This is the most important thing I want you to know and remember.

In this little book, you will learn how you came into the world, and how you learned to discover your place in it, during times you now won’t be able to remember. (It is so, so difficult to remember things from the first few years of our lives.) 

Life has no specific instructions to it, but there are many times when a heartfelt set of notes on different situations, that will make us feels things (emotions), whether as kids or eventually as adults, will be helpful, encouraging, supportive and relieving. This books wants to be that guide, casting light into the darkness. It wants you to feel good about where you are and where you’re going – and it wants to help you understand how it all works from experience, while giving you some basic tools so that you can grow with it. 

Life is a gift and we are all here living it, at different ages, moments, places and times. It doesn’t matter where you live, what language you speak or who you live with, I want this book to be absolutely and uniquely yours to treasure in a special place that holds your best kept thoughts and feelings, that place where your happiness lives and where your sense of being loved shines out into the world. 

You must always know you are incredibly loved, utterly special and most of all, unique. Capable of doing the most amazing things to enjoy life. That you are always supported and loved, even when it seems impossible or unlikely. You have it in you and this little book will always remind you of that. You are more than enough and will always be. You must believe it yourself and whenever you feel like you forget, life and this little guide will show you. 

You are love – and love will always find you. 

I’m so honoured to be here with you, little one. Grab that chocolate milk, pull up that blanket and get ready to read on!

I love you, 
Auntie Mariana


For The Grownups (a.k.a Adults)


Hello there!

Thank you for being here among these pages you are about to read. It might be that you are reading this to your little one out loud at night, before they go to sleep; or it might be that you are reading it for yourself because someone told you this little book is as much for kids as it is for adults. 

Whatever the case, I’m pleased to have you here!

When reading this book, I want you to always use the name of your little one (or your own) every time Julian is mentioned. I wrote this book for my nephew on his first birthday – and it’s based on all my nephews. This book has a lot of heart in it, more than I have ever put on any piece of writing up until this point. 

As you read it then, please make sure to make it personal, to feel it personally, to dig deep into yourself, and maybe to use it to push against any inner barriers that could feel challenging to you, whatever they might be. 

As adults, we have all lived lives that our kids haven’t. We now know about pain and suffering in a way they don’t. Because of this we tend to judge or misjudge, to forget, to confuse, and above all to overcomplicate (because we adults love to overcomplicate things). These are all things precisely that this little book wants to remind you of in simple, straightforward terms, and to let you know it’s okay to go back to basics. To joy.

It’ll be a happy book, I assure you. But it might be also challenging and beautiful, bitter and sweet, revealing or tough in parts. Some parts in it will resonate to you and some others won’t. Please just read it openly, freely and lovingly, and see what works for you. 

Dear Julian is a book for life, to remind us all what is really important and how it all matters, the tiniest and the biggest, the lovely and the painful, the sad and the happy. This book has been created to reach corners of our hearts we never knew, during or afterwards. This book wants to be your guide, your companion, whether in your own life experience or in your children’s lives. It could be your kids, your nephews, your students, your neighbours, your cousins or kids waiting with a smile for hope somewhere in the world.

But also, I want you, dear adult, to use your name at all times and truly feel the power that being YOU has, feeling all the love and embracing all that life has brought to you. Everything has happened just as it needed to, so that you could come to this point of your life, ready to be reminded of your worth, your power and your strength. 

As you do this, your kids will understand how life must be lived. Truthfully, fully, honestly and dearly. We are their example. They live and learn through us – but let’s never forget how the wheel turns as we live and learn through them too as we move forward together.

Always remember the power of honouring yourself which will only expand as goodness into all those around you. Let’s all grow older and wiser together. It’s my sincere hope that this little book will help us all achieve that. 

Now, let’s get this journey started, shall we?


This is a blog series after my book called Dear Julian: Welcome Letters To The World. Feel free to follow the series here on the blog or buy the Kindle version on Amazon. Thanks for your support!


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