Prairie Hill teacher turns grief into love with debut children’s book

Prairie Hill Elementary School kindergarten teacher Valerie Baumann has turned unimaginable loss into something deeply meaningful. Her debut children’s book, Guess What? I Love You, is a story born from love and loss, written in honor of her late son, Jack Baumann, to help families talk about grief.

“I knew I had an important story to tell,” Valerie said. “It’s my love letter to my son. When you lose a child, they’re physically gone, but I didn’t want his spirit to also be gone, because I knew that he still had a lot of work to do and a lot of love to give.”

She hopes the story helps parents and children have conversations that are often too painful to begin. “Grief and death are things that nobody wants to think about or talk about, but it’s something that we all experience,” Valerie said. “It’s the one certain thing in life. We’re all going to die or lose someone we love, and it’s really hard to explain that to a child in a way that doesn’t feel scary.”

The book also gently reminds readers that everyone grieves differently and that there’s no right or wrong way to cope with loss.

Smiling Jack’s joy lives on

Those who knew Jack remember him for his light, laughter, and constant smile. “He really was the happiest, happiest kid,” the new author shared. “There was never a moment he wasn’t joyful and that he wasn’t expressing himself in some positive, smiley way. His nickname at school was Smiling Jack.”

When Jack passed away, Valerie said the loss was felt by everyone who knew him. “Of course, losing a child, there is that absence, but our joy was also gone. He really was everybody’s light.”

To keep that light shining, Valerie and her family created the Jack Baumann Memorial Foundation, which sponsors the annual Jack’s Joy Ride! fundraiser and provides Pre-K scholarships for local students. “We’re not as good at it as he was,” she said, “but we’re trying to keep sharing that joy because it’s something so beautiful that I knew needed to be shared.”

A mother’s love in words and pictures

The book’s title came straight from Jack. “Guess What? I Love You is his phrase,” Valerie shared with a smile. “He would always try to get people to smile. He would come to you and say, ‘Guess what?’ and try to get you to say, ‘What?’ and then he’d say, ‘I love you,’ and then he would just run away. That was his line.”

Valerie included small details in the story that carry personal meaning. “If you know our family or our story at all, you’ll see little things in there that are meaningful to him or to us,” she said. “Most of the characters in the story are our family, so it’s really special for us.”

Finding the right illustrator was one of the most important parts of the process for the new author. “When he sent me his first sketches of Jack, I just knew,” she said. “He captured him perfectly.”

From heart to page

The story itself came quickly. “I actually wrote the story in about an hour,” Valerie said. “My heart was ready. It just kind of flowed. But getting the illustrations and figuring out how to publish—that was where the work came in.”

After all the effort and emotion that went into it, the publishing process finally came to an end.

The moment the book went live on Amazon is one she’ll never forget. “I literally ran around the school,” she said. “The first time I said to somebody, ‘I’m a published author,’ I was crying. I couldn’t believe that it was available and that other people have the potential to know him and know his love.”

Since its release, copies have already reached readers in Arizona, Canada, and Wyoming — spreading Jack’s light far beyond northern Illinois.

Teaching grief with grace

As a kindergarten teacher at Prairie Hill Elementary, Valerie said her classroom experience shaped how she approached such a tender subject. “Working with five-year-olds every day kind of gives me an advantage,” she said. “I wanted to make sure that the voice was appropriate and that it was something they were going to understand even though the topic can be quite challenging.”

She shared Guess What? I Love You with students and families at Jack’s Garden, a reading garden built at Prairie Hill in her son’s memory. “It was the most beautiful thing,” she said. “So many of my current and former students were there, and I thought, this is why I did this.”

Continuing Jack’s work

Jack’s mom continues to find new ways to share her son’s joy with others. “It just means that I get to share him,” she said. “He really was just such a special, magical kid, and everybody who knew him knew that there was something special about him. People don’t get to know that anymore, and I want to give everyone a piece of that love.”

She described the love a parent holds for a child as something that doesn’t disappear when they’re gone. “When you have a child, your heart just swells and your capability to love expands,” Valerie explained. “And when you lose that child, that doesn’t go away. You still have that space and that love and need to give. This book was one of my ways of sharing that love and passing it along.”

She’ll speak this month at a youth grief group at Holy Family, where every child attending will receive a copy of her book, thanks to a local volunteer. The Jack Baumann Memorial Foundation will also have a booth at Stroll on State this year to raise awareness and welcome volunteers.

Through Guess What? I Love You, Jack’s story continues to bring comfort and connection to families who need it most. The book is available on Amazon, with all proceeds benefiting the Jack Baumann Memorial Foundation.

To learn more about how Jack’s story continues to touch lives, join the Jack Baumann Memorial Foundation on Facebook.