A former Laurelwood Elementary School (SCUSD) preschool teacher and mother of three, Carole Jevons, launched “What Does Miss Sue Do? A Teacher’s Summer,” a picture book written in rhyme for kids 2-6, on April 15.

Jevons’s story lets young kids in on a secret: teachers have lives outside of the classroom! They are real people with their own families, hobbies and summer adventures.

“My students genuinely believed their teacher lived at school,” said Jevons, explaining that she would often run into her young students outside of class in her Sunnyvale neighborhood—at a park or grocery store.

“They didn’t quite know what to make of it. Some would shyly hide behind their parents. Even my most outgoing students were unsure why I wasn’t in the classroom, where I ‘belonged,’” Jevons continued.

“What Does Miss Sue Do? A Teacher’s Summer,” editor Erika Klimecky likes how wonderfully Jevons expresses a child’s view of the world.

“Carole has great insight into what kids see and how different it often is from what adults see. This story and the illustrations capture that really well,” said Klimecky.

Jevons, who moved from Silicon Valley to Washington state about 18 years ago, said that she made notes for her book while teaching in Sunnyvale. She rediscovered them when emptying a file cabinet before she and her husband sold their Washington home nearly two years ago.

“I read through the notes and still loved the idea,” said Jevons, who self-published the book, finding her editor and her illustrator, Cristina Kramp, through her women’s networking group. They worked together remotely for a year.

“For the past year and a half, I’ve been traveling the world full-time, so the collaboration has happened across time zones.”

“The entire process was completely new to me,” she continued. “I assumed the hard part was writing the words, but deciding the characteristics of Miss Sue, the mood of the book, and the color scheme was all a learning experience.”

In developing her main character, Sue, Jevons was inspired by two real Sues in her life—her mom and her teaching mentor.

“I wish my mom, Sue Stern-Barnett, were alive to see the book,” said Jevons. “She and my mentor, Sue Dallas, were the inspirations for Miss Sue. Sue [Dallas] is from Santa Cruz — she drove over the mountain to Sunnyvale for decades to teach at Laurelwood Preschool, and the book is dedicated to her.”

“I love the joy in Miss Sue’s face and the energy she infuses into her adventures,” said Klimecky. “It makes me really happy to see all the magic in the finished story.”

Jevons’s four-year-old nephew Freddie in Pasadena is one of Miss Sue’s students in “What Does Miss Sue Do? A Teacher’s Summer.”

“I can’t wait to read it to him and see his face when he realizes he’s in a book!” said Jevons, who returns regularly to California to visit family and friends.

“I am so excited to finally be sharing this book after so long. I’m proud that I did it, and I hope everyone has fun reading it,” said Jevons.

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