By Casey Neill
Thinking outside the box helped Jess Horn share her message of self-acceptance with thousands of Victorian Preps.
Picture book Bernie Thinks in Boxes is about thinking differently and navigating change in a neurotypical world.
“I was about a year past having just started my picture book journey, learning about writing picture books and trying to get something published,” Jess said.
“The idea came to me when I was reflecting on how I think.
“My head loves to play with words so I was amused by the literal idea of thinking in boxes – sitting in a box to do your thinking.
“I want it to give kids permission to be themselves, even if it’s not what society tells them to be.
“I wanted to create a conversation around different ways of thinking.
“I’m hopeful that will lead kids to be more understanding and accommodating of their peers.
“There’s no harm in pointing out differences.”
Bernie Thinks in Boxes is one of five picture books included in Prep Bags that will be gifted to all Victorian school starters in 2025, to improve literacy and build a love of reading.
“That was an unexpected and wonderful piece of news,” Jess said.
“I got a phone call from the publisher the day after the release of Bernie.
“I had absolutely no idea they’d even entered the book. I didn’t know it was a thing.
“I didn’t have any expectation that my book might be included.”
She’s thrilled that there’ll be “65,000 little Bernies running around next year”.
“It’s such a good way of getting stories into homes that hopefully can add some value,” she said.
Jess has loved writing since she was a kid.
“I wrote poems and handed them to my teachers at school,” she said.
“I thought one day I’d write a novel, but I went to uni and studied something different.”
Jess has a degree in speech pathology and worked in the disability field while continuing to try her hand at writing that novel.
But reading picture books with her kids, now aged 9 and 6, inspired her to take a picture book writing course with the Australian Writers Centre.
“It gave me enough information to get going,” she said.
“My head is always full of books and book-related things.
“It’s been my main interest for years.
“I’ve got two other books in the works coming out with Hardie Grant with their Bright Light imprint, one next year and one the year after.”
Jess’s parenting journey has “been rocky”, she admitted with a laugh.
“My children are wonderful and I love them and it has been overall an amazing journey,” she said.
“Every parent knows it comes with challenges.
“I went into that journey nine years ago not knowing a lot of things about myself.
“Having that big shift in my life, it did pose some challenges.
“I’ve got kids with their own needs and it’s just a matter of trying to navigate everyone’s needs in the household.
“As someone who’s very black and white, I’ve struggled with the fact that there’s not a right answer, there’s not one right approach.
“I didn’t trust myself because I hadn’t done it before.
“I didn’t have the confidence.”
And there’s such a wealth of information at our fingertips.
“It complicates our lives, it gives us more to think about,” Jess said.
“You can’t do everything you see, you can’t apply every strategy that you see.
“You can’t be that picture-perfect family that’s presented on social media.
“I think I’ve stopped trying to apply other people’s strategies.
“I just try to do the best that I can do on the day.”
