u/Former-Ball-3856

When I, Terry Bean wrote Abracadabra over a decade ago, I already had the privilege of meeting Dr. Joe at an event back in 2005. I truly wish I had joined his team back then! Something in me just knew that he was SPECIAL, and going to make a difference in this world! I have yet to get to an immersion, and of course, it is on my bucket list. I was able to get a gift to him during the last immersion in April 2026 in Denver. My books, hat, and magic wand reached him, and he gave a NOD by naming his next event after the book ABRACADABRA. I hope he enjoys the coloring book as well. I am honored, and I wanted to share this experience with you all.

I have a huge vision with this book, and I hope you can join me in empowering children to create a life they LOVE, and grow into happier, kinder adults, who are connected with themselves and those around them.

A Picture Book That Hands Children a Language for Their Feelings

Terry Bean’s Abracadabra is a quiet story about big emotions — and a tool parents can return to long after the last page. A young girl runs from her front porch in tears. Behind her, her parents are still arguing. She runs until the only sound is her boots on the dirt road, and she stops at her favorite spot by a lake. She picks up a branch that looks like a wand. The water is cold against her toes. And then her reflection looks back up at her and starts to speak. That is the first quiet movement of Terry Bean’s Abracadabra, a picture book that does something many stories for young children attempt and few actually pull off: it gives a
child the words for what they feel before a parent has to ask.

A Safe Way Into Big Feelings

Children often don’t have language for sadness, fear, or worry. The feelings come out
sideways — as silence, as irritability, as running away. Dani is overwhelmed and crying,
and her reflection doesn’t fix her, doesn’t rush her, doesn’t tell her to be happy. It just
notices.
“Dani, you look sad.”

That single line is the foundation of the book. Before a feeling can be worked through, it
has to be acknowledged. Before a child can pause, choose, or self-regulate, they need
to hear from someone — even themselves, in a reflection — that what they’re feeling is
real and allowed. When the reflection tells Dani, “It’s OK to feel sad,” Terry Bean is
handing parents a phrase. The kind of phrase that, used in a kitchen or a car ride a
week later, becomes a small shortcut to a bigger conversation.

Read it Twice

Abracadabra has earned a 5-Star review from Reader’s Favorite. One reviewer
described her daughter applying the Wizard’s question to small everyday choices —
pausing to ask which option will feel better afterward before deciding whether to finish a
chore or run off to play. That kind of real-world transfer is exactly what the book is
hoping for.

“A favorite in our home for both reading and conversation.”— Asher Syed, Reader’s Favorite

Terry Bean wrote Abracadabra for the moment after the door slams. Read it the first
time for the story. Read it the second time as a conversation. Then leave it on the shelf
where a child can pull it down on a hard day on her own — which is, in the end, the kind
of magic the book is actually about.

Why This Book Exists Now

Terry Bean wrote Abracadabra more than a decade ago and let it sit. She returned to it
now, after four decades in a different professional life, because she wanted to spend
this next chapter helping children find what most of us spend adulthood searching for:
enough trust in themselves to make their own choices.
Terry is certified in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and uses those tools with adult
clients navigating hard conversations. Abracadabra is, in a sense, the same work
translated for someone half a child’s height — a way of teaching, early, that what you
pay attention to shapes what you feel, and what you feel can guide what you choose.