A story that gives families and classrooms the tools to turn big feelings into
honest, confident communication — one word at a time.
A story that gives families and classrooms the tools to turn big feelings into honest, confident communication — one word at a time.
Helping kids find their voice and use it with confidence, truth, and Compassion.
When words turn tense and feelings run high, Sam and Violet discover something powerful: words can build or break, heal or hurt, connect or divide.
Through gentle storytelling and biblical truth, this book helps children discover courage, empathy, and self-awareness while learning how to speak with honesty and grace.
Written by certified high-performance coach and mom of two, Rachel Closson, Tug of Words offers families and classrooms a new way to nurture confident, faith-filled communication — one word at a time.
honesty, grace, and confidence.
A book that helps kids speak with
Tug of Words isn’t just a story your kids will love — it’s an experience designed to help them grow. Each chapter follows a rhythm of Story, Reflection, and Practice:
This unique blend of storytelling and coaching turns reading time into a discipleship opportunity — helping children not just learn about truth, but live it.
Tug of Words isn’t just a story your kids will love — it’s an experience designed to help them grow. Each chapter follows a rhythm of Story, Reflection, and Practice.
Because truth doesn’t just need to be heard
— it needs to be practiced.
Because truth doesn’t just need to be heard — it needs to be practiced.
HOW THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT
The Story invites children into real-life situations where emotions, honesty, and choices collide.
The Reflection helps parents, teachers, and counselors guide deeper conversations rooted in biblical truth.
The Practice gives kids a hands-on way to live out what they’ve learned — through simple, meaningful exercises that build confidence, self-control, and empathy.
The Story invites children into real-life situations where emotions, honesty, and choices collide.
The Reflection helps parents, teachers, and counselors guide deeper conversations rooted in biblical truth.
The Practice gives kids a hands-on way to live out what they’ve learned — through simple, meaningful exercises that build confidence, self-control, and empathy.
This unique blend of storytelling and coaching turns reading time into a discipleship opportunity — helping children not just learn about truth, but live it.
When Sam and Violet find
themselves on opposite ends
of a disagreement, they
discover that their words — just like a rope — can either pull people apart or draw them closer together.
What begins as a playful tug quickly becomes a lesson in understanding, honesty, and grace. With every page, children see how emotions, choices, and words are woven together — and how pausing to listen can turn tension into connection.
The “tug” becomes more than a game; it’s a picture of the heart. It reminds kids that God invites us to use our words not to win, but to build — not to control, but to care.
Through gentle dialogue and vivid illustration, Tug of Words helps children recognize that speaking truth in love isn’t about being right — it’s about being real, kind, and rooted in what’s good.
When Sam and Violet find themselves on opposite ends of a disagreement, they discover that their words — just like a rope — can either pull people apart or draw them closer together.
What begins as a playful tug quickly becomes a lesson in understanding, honesty, and grace. With every page, children see how emotions, choices, and words are woven together — and how pausing to listen can turn tension into connection.
The “tug” becomes more than a game; it’s a picture of the heart. It reminds kids that God invites us to use our words not to win, but to build — not to control, but to care.
Through gentle dialogue and vivid illustration, Tug of Words helps children recognize that speaking truth in love isn’t about being right — it’s about being real, kind, and rooted in what’s good.
Inside the Story
Take a peak inside the book
Etymology is the study of where words come from and what they originally meant.
It reminds us that words are not random.
They carry history, structure, and meaning beneath what we casually say every day. In Tug of Words, this matters because the language children hear and use shapes how they understand themselves, their feelings, and their voice.
Etymology is the study of where words come from and what they originally meant.
It reminds us that words are not random. They carry history, structure, and meaning beneath what we casually say every day.
In Tug of Words, this matters because the language children hear and use shapes how they understand themselves,
their feelings, and their voice.
Tug of Words
An Etymological Definition
It is movement between two influences.
In the emotional life of a child, a tug describes the internal pull between:
- silence and expression
- reaction and reflection
- confusion and clarity
- fear and honesty
A tug is the moment before a choice.
comes from Old English togian, meaning to pull, to draw toward, to strain between directions.
comes from Old English togian, meaning to pull, to draw toward, to strain between directions.
It is identity spoken into form.
Children learn who they are through the words they hear and the words they are given to use.
Words shape direction.
It is identity spoken into form.
Children learn who they are through the words they hear and the words they are given to use.
Words shape direction.
comes from Old English word, meaning speech, utterance, promise, declaration, meaning carried outward.
It is to bring the inside world into the outside world.
Children who learn to speak their experience learn to understand themselves.
It is to bring the inside world into the outside world.
Children who learn to speak their experience learn to understand themselves.
comes from Old English specan meaning to utter, to express, to make oneself known
comes from Old English specan meaning to utter, to express, to make oneself known
TUG
SPEAK
- Not loudness
- Not certainty
- Not dominance
Confidence is trust in one’s voice.
- Not loudness
- Not certainty
- Not dominance
Confidence is trust in one’s voice.
from Latin confidere con = with fidere = to trust
Truth is alignment between what is felt and what is spoken.
Truth is alignment between what is felt and what is spoken.
comes from Old English trēowth meaning: faithfulness, honesty, reliability, what can be trusted
Helping children recognize the internal pull between silence and expression
and giving them language strong enough to choose honesty over reaction
so they learn to speak with trust
in what they feel
and in who they are.
Helping children recognize the internal pull between silence and expression
and giving them language strong enough to choose honesty over reaction
so they learn to speak with trust
in what they feel
and in who they are.
