Collaboration with Pacific Clinics highlights the importance of well-being in Chinese and English
PASADENA, Calif. (October 12, 2021) – Bitty Bao announced the release of “Boba Emotions,” a new bilingual children’s book to inspire conversations about mental health and emotions between caregivers and young children. Bitty Bao, led by Lulu Cheng and Lacey Benard, educators-turned-authors and book publishers, created the colorful, interactive book using culturally relevant stories and a mood meter to encourage exploration of these important topics.
The goal is to teach families and young children about emotional health, Cheng explained. “We wanted to give parents and caregivers the tools to help children understand emotions to help support the well-being of our future generations,” Cheng said, adding that “Boba Emotions” is for audiences along different points in their language-learning journey.
To ensure that the book’s content aligned with best practices in mental health, Bitty Bao engaged Pacific Clinics, Southern California’s leading non-profit behavioral health provider. “Pacific Clinics and its Asian Pacific Family Center site truly understand the unique cultural needs of our communities,” said Benard. “We utilized the resources from Pacific Clinics and developed a book that is fun and engaging. We hope that ‘Boba Emotions’ helps families learn about feelings together.”
“Our team was honored to have provided guidance and a parent toolkit in the form of an additional insert for this special project,” shared Pacific Clinics’ Associate Divisional Director Glenn Masuda, Ph.D. “We hope that this book inspires families to talk about emotions while also reducing stigma in our communities.”
“We are thankful to have the opportunity to collaborate and support the development of this book,” added Stephanie Zapata, clinical team supervisor for Pacific Clinics. “The graphics and content are beautiful, and it turned out to be a colorful celebration of how through reading together, caregivers and children can engage in important bonding time, enhance emotional availability and regulation, and build bilingual and communication skills.”
Bitty Bao books support bilingual language-building skills. The books are written in English and can include either Pinyin for non-native speakers, traditional Chinese characters with Zhuyin or simplified characters.
Graphically colorful and dynamic, “Boba Emotions” will be released on October 21, and readers can pre-order the book online at www.bittybao.com.
###
About Bitty Bao
Based in Pasadena and founded in 2020 by former public-school teachers and moms Lulu Cheng and Lacey Benard, Bitty Bao launched to fill a need and offer fun bilingual English and Chinese children’s books. Bitty Bao has published nine book titles that are distributed internationally.
About Pacific Clinics
Established in 1926, Pacific Clinics is dedicated to unlocking the full potential of individuals, families, and communities through behavioral health services, early education, and training. With operations at over 50 locations and 325 schools across Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Clara and Ventura counties, we offer hope to over 22,300 individuals annually to address trauma and life challenges through our comprehensive health services, case management, health navigation, early and continuing education, housing support and employment assistance.
