The Adventures of Lil’ Sass
Why an emotional wellness book series belongs in every home
Children are not taught that feelings are bad. They are taught that some feelings are inconvenient — which turns out to be the more durable lesson.
Nobody sits a four-year-old down and explains that anger is unacceptable. It is learned sideways, in a thousand small moments: the sigh, the distraction offered before the feeling is finished, the well-meant ‘you’re alright’ delivered while they are visibly not alright.
The lesson that lands is not this feeling is bad. It is this feeling is a problem for the people around me. That is a much stickier belief, and it walks into adulthood intact.
The Adventures of Lil’ Sass is an emotional wellness children’s book series built to interrupt that, early.
What is an emotional wellness children’s book?
It is a picture book whose primary job is not plot or moral instruction but emotional literacy: giving a child language for an internal state, permission to have it, and something concrete to do with it.
The category is often confused with calming books. They are close to opposites. A calming book helps a child move past a feeling. An emotional wellness book helps a child stay with one long enough to know what it is. The first is a de-escalation tool. The second is a developmental one.
Why does a story work better than an explanation?
Because a child in a big feeling has limited access to the part of the brain that processes explanations, and unlimited access to the part that follows a story.
A story also provides distance. It is difficult for a seven-year-old to examine their own jealousy directly; it is straightforward for them to watch a character be jealous and recognise something. That gap is what makes the material usable rather than confronting.
And a story gives the feeling a shape with a beginning, a middle and an end — which is, functionally, the reassurance the child most needs: this ends.
What is The Adventures of Lil’ Sass?
An emotional wellness children’s book series and accessories line, on a mission for adults and kids to have a healthier, happier, more resilient relationship with their emotions. It is written by Christie Mann and published by UpLevel Productions, a venture of Dunbar Group & Associates LLC.
Lil’ Sass herself is an independent, courageous, sassy kid — deliberately not a serene one. She is a role model for feeling emotions in a healthy and responsible way, which is a different brief from modelling composure. She is joined by Mrs. Moo, Mr. O.G., Lil’ Artie, Lil’ Amina and a growing cast, each carrying a different relationship to emotion.
The series has earned an Amazon Best Selling Author distinction and a Readers’ Favorite Five Star review. More about the series here.
Why do discussion guides matter more than the book?
Because the book opens a door and the adult decides whether anyone walks through it.
Most parents, carers and teachers genuinely want to have the conversation a good emotional wellness book invites. Far fewer feel equipped for it — largely because they were raised inside the same sideways lesson described above, and have no template for what to say after ‘the end’.
This is why the Lil’ Sass series ships with discussion guides. The questions are the product as much as the pages are.
Can these books be used in classrooms and clinical settings?
Yes, and that is an increasingly common use. The books, discussion guides and wider emotional wellness intellectual property are available for classroom and institutional licensing through Dunbar Group & Associates — including schools, healthcare settings and community programmes.
Dunbar Group also supports educational change directly by training teachers, students and school leaders in coaching skills, which pairs naturally with the material. Licensing enquiries are handled here.
How does the app extend the books?
Lil’ Sass: Adventures of Emotions takes the same cast and the same premise and makes it specific. Instead of a child recognising themselves in a character, the child becomes the character — the app generates a twelve-page illustrated book about the feeling they actually had today, ending in a physical move for processing it.
It is built to a privacy standard appropriate to a product children use to talk about their feelings: names never reach the AI systems, conversations are screened, and parental consent is required under 13. The full explanation is here.
Frequently asked questions
What age are the Lil’ Sass books for?
They are written for young readers and the adults reading with them. Much of the value sits in the conversation afterwards, which is why discussion guides accompany the series.
Who writes and publishes The Adventures of Lil’ Sass?
The series is written by Christie Mann, published by UpLevel Productions, and stewarded by Dunbar Group & Associates LLC, which owns the intellectual property.
Where can I buy the books and the cape?
At lilsass.com/shop, alongside free downloadable resources.
Is there a digital version?
The app, Lil’ Sass: Adventures of Emotions, is a separate product that generates personalised illustrated books rather than reproducing the printed series.
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