27 February 2007

Contact: Sarah Phillips Pellet

973-429-3641

Lake House Books Announces Launch of

The Kangaroo Pouch

A Story about Gestational Surrogacy for Young Children

Glen Ridge, NJ – Lake House Books today announced the launch of The Kangaroo Pouch, a story of gestational surrogacy for young children, by first-time author Sarah Phillips Pellet.  The book explains the process of surrogacy – from the mother’s initial decision to become a surrogate on through to the delivery of the child – in terms that are suitable for three-to-eight year olds. The book has been published by Trafford Publishing and is available on the Internet at www.trafford.com  and other book sellers such as Amazon (www.amazon.com), Borders (www.borders.com), Waterstone’s (www.waterstones.com) and other outlets.

Ms. Phillips Pellet, who herself was recently a compassionate surrogate for her sister-in-law, initially wrote the book for her own use with her own children, using stick figures to convey the images. “I find that reading books to my children on difficult subjects often acts as a bridge between us. I wanted to use a book for this situation and couldn’t find one that was age-appropriate; so I wrote one myself,” says Ms. Phillips Pellet.

The book not only helped her to introduce the subject of deciding to be a surrogate to her children; but she discovered that they referred to it frequently throughout the duration of the pregnancy and afterward. “When I realized that  they were using it as a ‘what to expect’ manual, I thought that perhaps other surrogate families could benefit from it as well and decided to have it professionally illustrated and published, “ she said.

Illustrator Laurie A. Faust transformed the well-worn pages of stick-figure people to proper kangaroo characters and The Kangaroo Pouch was born.

As surrogates are often mothers themselves, explaining the complex subject of assisted reproduction to their own young children can be fraught with difficulty. “How do you tell a four-year old, who is only marginally interested in where babies come from to begin with, that someone else’s embryo is going to be implanted in your uterus so that their baby can grow and then we are going to give the baby back to them?” says Ms. Phillips Pellet, “I found that to be daunting and sought to simplify it so that my youngest child would understand it and be happy with the decision too.”

 Ms. Phillips Pellet decided that addressing the concept through the use of kangaroo characters rather than people would help to get the message across without delving too much into the mechanics of how assisted reproduction works. After writing the book, she consulted child psychologist Marli Gelfand, who noted that, it “addresses concerns that children of surrogates might have, such as what happens to their own family after the surrogate baby is born.” “Working with Marli provided me with child-centric insights that I incorporated into the book,” explained the author. “I also consulted with Sioban Boyce, a communications specialist who works with difficult-to-reach children, to make sure that non- or pre-verbal children would be able to understand the meaning of the book through the images.”

Sarah Phillips Pellet is a business writer and owner of Stepping Stone Communications, a small business communications’ firm. She lives with her husband and two sons in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. She gave birth to surrogate twin nephews in November 2005.

Review copies of The Kangaroo Pouch are available upon request. On-line information about the book is available at www.lakehousebooks.com.  Ms. Phillips Pellet is also available for interviews.

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