Once Upon an Upset is a beautifully illustrated collection of stories, insights and reflections to help parent our children while reparenting ourselves, based on the author's own personal experiences.

Some of the stories are for kids (or the younger versions of ourselves), some are memoir, and some are reflections to help readers understand and find compassion for their own behavior and the behavior of others.

The author shares her experiences learning to communicate-to-be-understood in adult relationships and about her own personal challenges and insights trying to parent her child differently than she was raised.

The book is 450 full-color pages with over 200 illustrations.

“What I hope I’ve created with Once Upon an Upset is a book someone could pick up in a moment of overwhelm and find a little relief.” ―Jessica Laurel Kane

(Signed, 7x9” full-color pages.)

“This beautiful book is overflowing with stories rich with humor, pathos, and grace which share an incredibly important teaching: that compassion, kindness and connection are the greatest gifts we can give and receive. Through these stories and illustrations, Jessica shows us that the strategies which so many people had to develop to navigate difficult childhoods contain gifts within them that can allow each of us to find our own happily ever after. This book is a treasure!”

– Kirsten Lundeberg, psychotherapist,
Certified Internal Family Systems Therapist
Lead Trainer, Internal Family Systems Institute

“Jessica should be appointed our nation’s family therapist in residence. Using story telling, drawing and graphics, she tackles a myriad of universally experienced emotional challenges. Her tone is respectful, relatable and clear. This book is to be read and reread and used as a reference guide for the navigation of life. It is an invaluable companion for parents, and for children, of all ages.”

– Madeleine Smithberg, Emmy and Peabody award winning co-creator and original executive producer of The Daily Show/Host of MADINTHEKITCHEN

"It is beautiful, honest, raw and real and so incredibly helpful for anyone and everyone. Honestly do yourselves a favor and check out this wonderful book, it’s like a lovely hug.”

–Kristy Forbes, Autism and Neurodiversity Individual & Family Support Specialist

“This book will take us to all corners so we can parent ourselves and our children with new narratives. Jessica works with us in this honest and deeply personal exploration of how our children lead us to explore our own selves and hopefully parent our own children in a more connected and reflective way. Filled to the brim with essays as well as pull out quotes and illustrations Jessica has the ability to sum up complex issues with humour and emotion. This book will take us through all of it and help us feel safe enough to reflect and ask those important questions about our own selves._

–Eliza Fricker, advocate & consultant for PDA, autism and learning, and author & illustrator of many books, including the Sunday Times Bestselling title Can’t Not Won’t

Click here for more info about Once Upon An Upset.

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*For a limited time, every book is shipped with this 3” x 1” magnet, with words that help me shift out of autopilot and into remembering that I do have access to other choices that might help me cope more constructively to difficult moments. (The image of the magnet is posted on this page below the book cover.)

Click here if you’d prefer to order Once Upon an Upset through Amazon.