2022. COVID restrictions were lifting.

Trials were backed up and ready to go. New commute, a long one. Breast pump in my bag, federal court at the end of the line. I wrote down the words my boys made up, the cute code-switching I didn’t want to forget.

Steamie roller. That’s what they called it. One word became a story. And another one.

A Mama who wanted to remember.

Excerpt from Saving Stinky: My Garbage Truck, Illustrated by the talented Bella Ansori

Then I looked up.

Clients came to my office with their kids because they had no childcare. Old enough to sense something was wrong, too young to understand it. Some came to translate if needed. Others came to court, absorbing everything from the back row in silence.

No books or resources for these situations existed for them. Nothing that answered: What is a courtroom? A lawyer? A prosecutor? A judge? Especially in words a seven-year-old could hold. So I started writing. Bare bones flowcharts, some hand scribbled, others printed and stuffed in redwelds at the office.

Then came the language.

My clients speak Mandarin, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, Russian, Cantonese and more. Their children grow up between languages and cultures.

I wanted books that treated that as a strength. Books I wished had existed, for my kids, and for every child sitting in a courtroom or conference room somewhere, waiting for someone to explain.

So I started writing, drawing and designing. A few commutes here. Then a trial. Then another. Then two kids, a pandemic, and a caseload that never seemed to slow down. Then a few more pages. Years went by. Life happened. Until now.

And that’s how Steamie Roller Press was born.

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