The Lighthouse Club · Book One · A Social-Emotional Story

Words Are Not Walls

Emma’s Story

A gentle, honest chapter book about verbal bullying — for the kids who carry things quietly, and the grown-ups who want to help.

It’s not you. It’s them.

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Cover of Words Are Not Walls: Emma’s Story

What the series believes

Bullying is about the person doing it — never the child on the other end. Every kid deserves to know, early, that they are not the problem.

Available NowVerbal Bullying · SEL · Ages 7–11 · 620L

The Story

Frogs in clouds. Castles on the backs of whales. Emma’s teal sketchbook is full of creatures no one has ever drawn before — and at school, kids love them.

Until Leah starts whispering. The comments are small. Almost friendly. Easy to miss. But day after day they land in the same spot, and Emma’s sketchbook starts staying closed.

Then Emma begins to wonder if the problem was ever her drawings at all — and finds her way to one steady truth.

The first book in The Lighthouse Club — an ongoing series of stories about kids facing different kinds of bullying, each finding their way to the same quiet truth.

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A social-emotional learning story with Your Lighthouse Pages in the back — reflections, activities, and simple tools for when words get too loud. Written for readers ages 7–11.

For classrooms, counseling offices & homeschools

Schools, Counselors & Homeschools

The Lighthouse Club is written as social-emotional learning (SEL) — stories first, with tools that fit a real lesson, a counseling session, or a homeschool day.

Free Educator & Counselor Kit

A companion kit for Book One — a home reading guide, a classroom lesson plan, and a small-group discussion guide. Request it below and we’ll send it your way.

Honest, kid-sized stories about bullying, each with a hopeful turn
Book One, Words Are Not Walls, measures 620L (Lexile) — written for readers ages 7–11
Reflection prompts and coping tools built into the back matter
Ready for read-alouds, small groups, and one-on-one sessions
A ready-made SEL lesson for homeschool days — story, discussion, and activities in one
Classroom sets, author visits, and review copies available on request
An ongoing series — more titles on the way

Request the free kit

For teachers, school counselors, homeschool families, and librarians — get the Book One kit, or ask about bulk orders and visits.

Or email us at info@rowanhartwellbooks.com

The author

About Rowan Hartwell

Rowan Hartwell writes the Lighthouse Club series for the children adults often miss. The quiet ones, the ones who carry it home, the ones who learn early that being themselves can come with a cost.

Every book turns on one distinction: the difference between “something is wrong with me” and “something happened to me.” No child should have to wait until they’re grown to learn it.

The Lighthouse Club grew out of watching someone Rowan loves navigate cruelty that was never about them. Each book follows a different child through a different kind of unkindness, and none of them ends with the child having to change who they are.

The series runs to twelve books, written for readers ages 7 to 11. Book One, Words Are Not Walls, is available now.

It’s not you. It’s them.