So Many Words for Me to Be

About the Author

Jayneen Sanders (aka Jay Dale) is an experienced Australian early years educator, children’s book author and publisher. She began her teaching career in the 1980s as a primary school teacher in rural Queensland, Australia. She then moved to Melbourne, Victoria, and taught at several inner-city schools.  In 1985, Jayneen had a change of career and became an educational editor and publisher. In the early 90s, Jayneen and her partner moved to Japan to work as English teachers. They lived and worked in Japan for over three and a half years. In fact, Jayneen's first daughter was born there. On returning to Australia, Jayneen began working as an educational author/packager. Since then, she has authored and produced numerous award-winning titles for the educational publishing industry. Jayneen is also an accomplished children's book author, writing titles for literacy series such as ZigZags, Totally Kidz, Deadly and Incredible, and a children's picture book series for Penguin. Jayneen is currently the lead author of the literacy series ‘Engage Literacy’ published by Capstone. She has written over 150 titles for that series. Jayneen is a mother of three daughters and was a school councillor at her local school for over seven years. This time spent in schools both as a teacher and a parent inspired her to ask the question of her community: 'What are we doing in schools to protect our children from inappropriate touch?' When she realised very little was being done, she decided to use her authoring and publishing skills to write 'Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept' to help parents, carers and teachers to broach this subject and encourage children to speak up. After the encouraging response to 'Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept', Jayneen realised there was a need to further build upon the idea of prevention education. Jayneen participated in Protective Behaviours professional development and attended numerous conferences on the topic to educate herself in how to keep children safe and provide them with age-appropriate and empowering body safety and consent education.  Jayneen then went on to develop and publish a comprehensive Body Safety and Respectful Relationship Teacher's Resource Kit as well as writing many more children's books on the topics of body safety, consent, respect, gender equality, social and emotional intelligence, and diversity and inclusion. Jayneen currently works with her partner, Mark Sanders to run Educate2Empower Publishing. Her ongoing passion for the safety and empowerment of children continues today, with new manuscripts and free-to-download resources always in the wings. I grew up in a small family where my love for art started at an early age. I was born in 1992, and I was always painting, especially during the long summer days. One of my fondest childhood memories is watching "Anne of Green Gables" while sketching scenes from the show. My sketchbook quickly filled up with these drawings, and I would even cover each page with transparent tape to make it feel like a real picture book. This playful habit of turning my favorite stories into art marked the beginning of my journey as an illustrator. As I got older, I became eager to explore different materials and styles. I spent several years captivated by the beauty of Farshchian paintings, diving deep into oil painting in the miniature style. This period taught me the importance of attention to detail. During this time, I also earned my bachelor's degree in industrial management and my master's in business management. I spent five years working with an incredible marketing team, an experience that taught me valuable lessons in managing schedules and meeting deadlines—skills that have proven essential in my career as a freelance illustrator. Then the pandemic arrived, giving me an opportunity to focus more on my passion. I decided to pursue my passion, launching a bedtime story app for children. Within two months, I illustrated 60 illustrations, a project that sparked a deep  passion for picture book illustration. Now, I'm based in Canada. where I live with my husband. Being an artist isn't always easy, and making a living from art comes with its challenges. However, I feel incredibly fortunate that I have never given up on my passion. Some days are tough, but I always remind myself of the dreams I had as a child and stay happy on this journey.