CHOOSING HOPE

CHOOSING HOPE is an inspirational memoir that will offer a lifeline to readers: to those who need to be inspired to move beyond their own personal darkness, Kaitlin will be there to hold their hand. Because she’s done it before.

On December 14th, 2012, twenty children and six adults were massacred in Newtown, CT. Kaitlin is the first-grade teacher from Sandy Hook who saved her class by piling them in a one-stall bathroom during the massacre. If anyone has the right to feel hopeless or angry at the world, it would be Kaitlin. But that’s not who she is. She believes in the power of kindness; she believes in teachers and using a social curriculum to help shape children into the best people they can be; she believes in humanity.

CHOOSING HOPE is not just about what happened at Sandy Hook. Though it will bear witness to the tragedy, it’s really about the days and weeks that followed: the heroism of the first responders; the kindness and outpouring of love that flooded into the community and helped begin the healing process; trying to find a new normalcy after devastation.
Most importantly, CHOOSING HOPE is about how we move beyond tragedy, how we move away from despair and towards hope. How it’s in our power to choose how we react to the world – and that can make all the difference.

Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis is the founder of the nonprofit Classes 4 Classes, Inc and an inspirational speaker for teachers and organizations across the country. Previously, she was a first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Roig-DeBellis contributes to a biweekly educational blog for The Huffington Post and has been honored as a Glamour magazine Woman of the Year and chosen as a “L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth.” In 2013, she received two honorary doctorate degrees and the Dedicated Teacher Award from The Chicago International Conference on Education.