Former Huber Heights teacher to release children’s book

“As a kid, I would hold ‘summer school’ for fun and I’d teach my Barbie dolls if I didn’t have anyone to play as my students,” she said.

As an adult, Mikusa taught writing classes for Huber Heights sixth graders, along with college students at Sinclair.

The age difference in her students became apparent through their writing, but not in the ways one might assume, Mikusa said. This contrast was one of the reasons she was especially fond of teaching younger students.

“My sixth grade students were phenomenal; there were things they accomplished that even my college students couldn’t. It was amazing,” Mikusa recalled. “As adults, we get wrapped up in reality, but my younger students had an imagination that just soared.”

It was during her years of teaching the sixth graders that Mikusa said she did much of her writing, both in and out of the classroom.

“I never assigned homework. I would give the kids prompts and they would write during class,” Mikusa said. “I would follow the same prompts and write along with them, and we’d all share our stories with each other.”

After a foot surgery led to an early retirement in 2015, Mikusa leaned on writing.

“I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do at first, but I started writing right away,” she said. “But then I got a bit disenchanted and started to experience writer’s block. After my dad passed away last year and my mom passed away this year, I finally decided to do something with all of these stories I have.”

Mikusa’s debut children’s book, “The Vowels of Kindness,” will be geared toward kids ages 4 through 8 and focuses on giving readers the tools to be kind to those around them.

“Children naturally want to be kind, they just don’t have the language or the skills yet, so when we teach them the how and the why, we help them build character, competence, and empathy that they can carry into every part of their lives,” she said.

The book, which is due to be released by early December, will be available wherever books are sold online and in Barnes and Noble stores.

As for the future, Mikusa, 63, said she has plenty more writings stored away for potential publication, but she’s not sure what will come next.

“I’m hoping that maybe I’ll get a publisher to take notice and while I don’t want to make a million dollars, I do hope to make a difference, especially with this first book,” she said. “The message behind it is something I think we could all really benefit from.”