About OOW
Meet Anna
HELPING KIDS GROW KINDNESS, CONFIDENCE, AND CONNECTION
Through playful stories, memorable characters, and real-world activities, we help children build kindness, confidence, and connection—both in the classroom and at home.
OUR MISSION
To Make Social-Emotional Learning Simple,
Fun, and Meaningful
Fun, and Meaningful
WHY ON OUR WAY IS DIFFERENT
🐾 Engaging characters with meaningful stories
🛠️ Simple tools for real-life application
🎶 Songs, activities, and printables
🏫 Built for homes & classrooms
SEL is part of every story we tell.
Self-Awareness
Books like Mule Chooses Green Fuel help kids notice what matters most to them and make choices that reflect their values.
Self-Management
In Baby Worm (Finally) Gets a Turn, little ones learn patience and practice waiting their turn, showing how to manage impulses and stay kind.
Social Awareness
Say "Hi!" to a Fly encourages kids to see things from someone else’s (even a tiny fly’s!) point of view, promoting kindness and curiosity.
Relationship Skills
In Happy Hound Looks Around, Happy learns how observing others and appreciating everyone's unique talents helps make new friends and strengthen relationships.
Responsible Decision-Making
In Why Bees Say Please, readers see how small polite choices—like saying “please”—can build a better community for everyone.
🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾
These are just a few ways the On Our Way books weave Social and Emotional Learning into playful, relatable stories.
Every book in the series brings new opportunities to practice these skills in simple, meaningful ways.
ABOUT ANNA
🧘♀️ Zen helper & mindfulness advocate
💪 Strongwoman & confidence-builder
👩🏫 Educator & classroom collaborator
🐿️ Lover of stories, nature, and squirrels
ANNA'S STORY
Hi, I'm Anna Zumwalt - Zen helper, strongwoman, step-mother, and lifelong artist and storyteller. I've spent decades helping children and communities connect, grow, and thrive.
It’s very important to me that all children (and the grownups who love them—parents, teachers, and caregivers) feel seen and heard. I believe the world becomes a more beautiful, compassionate, and caring place when we support each other and celebrate our unique journeys.
We're all on this journey together!
Here’s a funny story:
A couple of New Years ago, I was thinking about resolutions—you know, that classic “how do I want to be better?” question. But instead of writing a boring list, I decided to draw it out, like a map of how I wanted my year to go.
A couple of New Years ago, I was thinking about resolutions—you know, that classic “how do I want to be better?” question. But instead of writing a boring list, I decided to draw it out, like a map of how I wanted my year to go.
Well… surprise! That little map turned into something much bigger. Without even realizing it, I had sketched out the entire On Our Way book series—and beyond!
Then, in just one week, I had rough drafts of all the books. Nuts, right?! From there, I made tiny little 1-inch pencil mock-ups. Then bigger, 5-inch color mock-ups. And finally… the real books!
It’s been about four years since that New Year’s doodle, and now (drumroll, please)... they’re all done! (Well, maybe not entirely. I still find little tweaks I want to fix—because that’s what creators do!)
If you happen to spot a typo, or have a suggestion for how to make these books even better, I’d love to hear from you. As a huge thank you, I might just send you a free book—or come do a reading at your school, club, or library!
And writing this for you, I just realized:
All these OOW characters are really little pieces of me—the parts of my best self that I wanted to grow into from that resolution exercise.
Maybe you’ll see a bit of yourself in them, too!
All these OOW characters are really little pieces of me—the parts of my best self that I wanted to grow into from that resolution exercise.
Maybe you’ll see a bit of yourself in them, too!
I hope these books bring as much joy to your family or classroom as they brought me in creating them.
I'm so glad you're here with us, celebrating each social win at a time, as we continue on our way… to the ZOO!
Anna
©️ Copyright: 2025 Anna Zumwalt • On Our Way Books 🐾