Tarra: Mission to Earth by Inna Van Der Delden
Post-pandemic, many parents have found their children struggling to acclimate to their back-to-school environment — and for good reason. For two years, most children were in at-home school environments with screens, parents and teachers co-teaching and infrequent social interaction. Going back to a classroom may be refreshing for some children, but for others, it was a shock to their system.
Because of this whole phenomenon, it is more important than ever for students to have access to tools that help them connect, explore and practice self-love. Inna Van Der Delden, author of Tarra: Mission to Earth and Tarra: Mission to Earth: The Family Companion, wanted to create a resource for children to explore their relationship with themselves and the earth, as well as to practice emotional regulation, self-love and the wonders of the earth, through the reading of a book.
Tarra: Mission to Earth is the story of Andrew and his friends while they go on an interstellar journey to save their home planet, Tarra, by going to planet Earth for a cure. Tarra: Mission to Earth: The Family Companion gives young readers steps to help these characters on their journey, like practicing deep breathing and meditation, and other small activities that could easily be completed around their home or neighborhood, alongside their parents, who are given tips on how to help their children complete these activities and engage with Tarra. See our review here.
While talking with the author, here is what Inna Van Der Delden had to say about her Tarra project and what she most hoped her readers — children and adults alike — would carry with them on their own journeys.
Q&A WITH INNA VAN DER VELDEN
Q: If you were to choose one lesson you want parents to take away from this book, what would it be? What lesson would you most hope for kids to take with them?
A: The biggest lesson in the book is the lesson of purposeful adventure, self-love, and awareness. When we start treating nature and Earth as living beings, we start noticing that what we feel, think, say, and do impact not just the environment, but also our lives. Then all of us: children and adults open their minds to living on our planet in a more kind and conscientious way. This is the secret ingredient to raising happy and joyful adults, whose lives are more likely to be filled with purpose.
Q: Gentle parenting, student-led learning, emotional regulation, and kinesthetic intelligence have been given greater priority in the last decade. How do you think your writing of this book was informed by that?
A: Absolutely – all of these approaches are reflected in the book, as are the foundations of traditional Chinese medicine, energy healing, and of course, the spice of adventure, folklore, travels, and much-loved characters, like gnomes and Greek Gods.
Children learn best not when they are told how to do a certain task, but when they are encouraged to observe the world around them and recognize its response to their actions. In this book, I am encouraging young readers to touch, smell, feel, see, and sense their environment – this is linked to the current rise in forest school education, Montessori learning and nature therapies, but goes effortlessly deeper, helping retain this wondrous energy as children become adults.
I am motivating my readers to experiment with right and wrong and find out for themselves that “right” is so much more compelling. This allows the children to learn to connect to other people and the environment at the level of deeper awareness of how their thoughts and actions impact the world around them.
Q: This book also very much feels like an opportunity for self-healing and self-exploration. Do you think parents could also utilize this for themselves if they are doing inner-child work?
A: Certainly! At its heart, this book is for inner children. All of them. You do not have to be a parent, a future parent, or read it for the purpose of working with children. This story is the awakening of your inner child. Remember when your mind and emotions were free of the societal patterns, inhibitions, and limitations? Tarra and its Family Companion are your chance to see and interact with the world from a ‘tabula rasa’ or ‘clean slate’ mentality. So a bit like your seasonal detox, liver cleanse, or juicing week, this is a soul cleanse. In this sense, the book creates a unique “bridging” experience between the world of adults and the world of children.
For example, one of the adventures in the story will take our readers to listen and speak to tree energies, as each one has its very own voice and state of joy. As we learn to stand in this tree energy, this lesson in oneness, purity and harmony becomes part of you and offsets the aspects that are no longer serving you and you are working to release.
Q: Tarra: Mission to Earth offers readers a unique look at Planet Earth from the perspective of these interstellar travelers. How did your travels and living in multiple different countries inform your creation of this version of Earth?
A: I have been extremely privileged to experience so many parts of our wonderful Earth. Having lived in six countries (Russia, Canada, Bulgaria, UK, USA, Kazakhstan) and traveled through many more, I have come across both the brilliance of our planet, like fragrant apple orchards and the vibrance of coral reefs, but also the pain that our home planet is feeling. This, coupled with my background as a Chinese Medicine practitioner, has led to the creation of my personified five elements of nature characters: Lissy (Wind), Audrey (Metal), Anthony (Earth), Andy (Fire) and the gloriously fluid Saashes (Water).
These characters are nature themselves, using their own superpowers to heal the Earth. To be honest, it was incredibly difficult to choose which of Earth’s many challenges to focus on. In this book, I chose to take on marine plastic pollution (I live in Florida part of my year and see the state of our seas), nuclear waste (my daughter was born just a few years after the Chernobyl explosion), and toxic emotions (these simmered throughout my childhood and are present in many families worldwide).
Also, the book is full of Easter eggs for my family and friends – all inspired by names, travels, folklore and memories!
Q: Now that Anthony and his friends have completed their mission to Earth, do you see yourself sending them to other destinations? Will there be more projects involving these characters? Or are you moving on to other projects?
A: The characters of the book became a big part of my own life, and encouraged me to dream with them. I envision the Tarrian team will take me to many more fascinating experiences. I plan a series of books where each character will take the lead in a particular adventure and of course, the whole team will help them. For example, the setting of my next book about Lissy and the seven Wind dragons will take place in three places at a time: on Tarra, on Earth and on Miara. After spending a whole book on Earth, I’d like readers to buckle up for some interstellar travel themselves!
I also have a book for adults on the go. Miracle of Rejuvenation with the 5 Elements of Nature is a non-fiction healing book based on the 5 Elements Rejuvenation healing system©, which I developed over years of study and international practice.
Q: Would you recommend other writers attempt more immersive projects like this when writing for younger audiences?
I would recommend other writers to go as deep, wide and far in their projects as possible. When we, as writers, dream big, it encourages our readers to dream even bigger and make meaningful changes on this Earth.
When I wrote this book my motto was that the plot of this book is a frame to a much bigger, multilayered picture of beautiful Universes which Hubble can’t reach yet, but our imagination and inner wisdom can.
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About Inna Van Der Veldon:
Inna Van Der Velden is a teacher, an acupuncturist, a specialist in Chinese medicine, a speaker at international tele summits, a healer and a writer.
Her vast studies and the experience of living in six countries (Russia, Canada, USA, Kazakhstan, United Kingdom and Bulgaria) have shaped her unique vision of life on Earth. The nature of her work as a healer allowed her to connect to people from forty-six different countries and hear their stories. Inna, together with the 5 Elements of Nature, has helped people heal their hearts, worn-out bodies and crumpled emotions.
Inna is sure that the art of Dreaming shapes the way of life on our planet. It is within our powers to set the conditions for our children to grow up in a happy environment, have more fun and co-create with our living planet, Earth.
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