About the Author

After her first mammogram, in 2009, Katy Tessman was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a double mastectomy on her fortieth birthday, endured chemotherapy, and underwent reconstruction surgeries. Katy's sons, Louis and Maxwell were only ages 6 and 3 at the time of her diagnosis.

The family's love of nature helped Louis and Maxwell understand the changes going on with their mother's body. They live in Minnesota and are active volunteers in their community. Before becoming a mother, Katy recorded an album of 11 original songs and went on two national tours. Katy has a BA from Minnesota State University–Moorhead and is a literacy and maker education champion.

Katy is available for book readings and motivational speaking events; as an author, she aims to help families find strength, courage, and optimism.

The Minnesota Women's Press named Katy a Changemaker in recognition of the positive effect her book has made on women and their families.

The Mom’s Choice Awards® has named Our Mama is a Beautiful Garden as among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.

In recognition of her dedication to inspire young people to read and love books, Katy is the winner of the Moonbeam Children's Book Award, earning the Silver Medal in the Health Issues category.

2009 - Katy and her sons, Maxwell age 3 and Louis age 6

In 2011, Katy was a model for Of Scars, a photo project that explores all the facets of living with the emotional and physical scars of breast cancer.

The Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis honored Louis and Maxwell in 2011, naming them Young Heroes, recognizing how they faced their mama's breast cancer with the courage only a true-to-life hero has.

In 2012, Katy was the cover girl in Patterson Dental's "Grins for a Good Cause" annual giving program.

Katy and her sons are featured in the 2013 Hope Chest for Breast Cancer Foundation's calendar.

Artist, Barbara Porwit created a larger-than-life painting of Katy as Wonder Woman for her Breast Cancer Superheroes portrait series in 2013.

2014 - Katy's 5th year of being cancer-free. In celebration, 15-year survivor Judi Lundstrom presented Katy with her award winning quilt inspired by Our Mama Is A Beautiful Garden.

2018 - Katy and her sons, Louis and Maxwell, celebrated the 2nd edition of Our Mama is a Beautiful Garden

2019 - Katy's 10th anniversary of being cancer free!

Katy recommends these inspiring books to read to young children during hard times:

"The Little Engine That Could" by Watty Piper

"Katy and the Big Snow" by Virginia Lee Burton

"Wonder Woman: I am Wonder Woman" by Erin K. Stein and Rick Farley

Katy's Blog

Grief and loss is topic that is difficult to talk about with children. How do you explain death and dying to your young child? This is a contemporary problem that is relevant to children, as well as young adults of today. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, my sons were 3 and 6 years old. I struggled finding an age appropriate book I could read to them. I decided to explain what was going to happen to me in my own way and it helped them stay positive throughout the journey. I self-published our family’s story to help others get through the awful battle of fighting cancer. Since then, there have been a variety of books published to help kids sort through the emotions of loss. Grief can be quite dark and cold, no matter the season. Following is a list of realistic fiction books I have curated for children ages 4 to 14 on this topic.