About Us

Different Like Delia began as a way to help my daughter Ava cope with the emotions she experienced surrounding her stutter, and writing our story together served as a distraction from her sober reality.

Meet The Authors

Ann King and Ava Murphy are a mother daughter duo from San Francisco, California. Ava is a stutterer. The two put pen to paper to write a story about a little girl with a stutter. The experience of writing Ava’s story was a therapeutic one. It helped Ava to understand her feelings and hopefully will help others to understand the difficulties a stutterer encounters every day. On this journey, Ava learned that her stutter is an integral part of who she is as a person, and she would not trade the experience. Turning your struggle into your superpower is the message of this wonderful book.

Bringing Delia to life in words and illustrations has been a fantastic adventure for Ann and Ava. It is their hope that Delia will serve as a fashionable and fabulous role model for stutterers and anyone else with a disability or a difference. More importantly, they hope the story encourages people to appreciate the struggles others have and to respond in more loving and helpful ways.

Background

Ava and I spent many tearful nights discussing her disfluency and the question of why it happened to her. Her older brother Eamon understood since he began to stutter at the age of five. My first inclination was to protect him, and hide his disfluency from the world. How naïve I was to think it was that simple. Eamon and Ava have felt confused, embarrassed and frustrated by their stuttering. The truth is, stuttering in itself is not the problem: it’s the reaction from others that causes the pain.
In many societies, people often ridicule what they don’t understand. Our family has spent a decade trying to comprehend why some people react to a stutter in negative ways. That became the premise for our book: to educate both children and adults on the continuing obstacles a stutterer encounters. More importantly, we hope that Delia’s story encourages people to appreciate the struggles others have, and to respond in more loving and helpful ways.
Bringing Delia to life in words and illustrations has been a fantastic adventure for Ava and me. We believe Delia will serve as a fashionable and fabulous role model for stutterers and anyone else with a disability. For when you believe in yourself, and know you are loved – anything is possible.

The Inspiration

When our book was first published in 2020, Ava was in eighth grade and Eamon was a senior in high school. Both were in speech therapy for many years and have learned strategies to assist with their fluency. They have both taken the approach to be proud of their stutter and their journey. They want all the stutterers in the world to remember that stuttering is nothing to be ashamed of—the good people in your life are always there to support you.

As they have grown and changed, they both believe that their stutter really is their superpower. Our differences are given to us for a reason and teach us valuable lessons about ourselves and others.

Being their mother has been life’s greatest gift to me. As I have watched them navigate from children to young adults, I am always amazed at their strength and resilience. They have certainly inspired me in my life, and I look forward to many more amazing moments.

Acknowledgements

“I dedicate this story to my wonderful brother, Eamon. Thank you for helping me with my stutter, and for being there no matter what. Over the years, you have been a huge help and major support system. We will always be in it together.”

– Ava

Rose Wright

Editor

Olya Golubeva

Illustrator

Jennifer Katz

Speech Language Pathologist

Rose Wright

Editor

Olya Golubeva

Illustrator

Jennifer Katz

Speech Language Pathologist

Delia is back!

This time the smart-witted fashionista from San Francisco has created an activity book. Doodling  with Delia is filled with games, puzzles, and fun designs to color.

As a stutterer Delia knows a calm mind increases fluency. She’s learned that doodling and coloring have a soothing effect on our emotions. It’s time to relax and enjoy—so grab your favorite colored pencils and let’s get started doodling with Delia!