Shanna Ingalsbee - The Gift of Letting Others Help You
Adventures Are Fun, and Home Is Best: Shanna Ingalsbee onThe Nearly True Adventures of My Bunny Steve
Some dreams take a little while to come true. For Shanna Ingalsbee, it took more than 20 years. I had the joy of talking with Shanna on the very day her first book,The Nearly True Adventures of My Bunny Steve, was released. It’s a children’s picture book written by Shanna and illustrated by Chris Jones.
She took the day off to reflect. She didn’t sleep in (“that just doesn’t happen”), but she sipped her coffee, met with her publishers and marketing team, and took it all in. She wrote the book on a lark, never imagining others would love it as much as they do.
About Shanna
Shanna was born and raised in Michigan, mostly in Kalamazoo. She holds a degree in secondary education and a BFA from Western Michigan University. She now lives in Los Angeles and has been a human rights activist with Amnesty International since 1992.
A few of Shanna’s favorites
Guiding principle: Accept people as they are, letting go of who you think they should be.
Book: The Candy Bombersby Andrei Cherny
Word for the year: Patience
Going Home to What Matters
Shanna tries to visit Michigan every year or two. This summer, after a long, delay-filled travel day, she was driving from the airport to her uncle’s house. Seeing the green trees and grass and breathing the clean air, she felt a weight lift. She was home, and she remembered what really matters in life.
Patience, Presence and Gratitude
This year brought Shanna a lot of change and upheaval, which is why she chose patience as her word.
So much of our frustration, she says, comes from imagining whatmighthappen. Those “what ifs” steal our sleep, cloud our relationships, and leave us searching for hidden threats. Her alternative is simple: take a breath, have faith in yourself, deal with what’s actually in front of you, and appreciate what you have. To Shanna, happiness means being content with what you already have.
She also loves a slightly cheeky quote: life is short, and you’re dead a long time, so enjoy every minute.
For me, that points to joy, the deep contentment we find by leaning on God whatever the circumstances. Gratitude and presence are every-moment practices.
The Real Bunny Behind the Book
Yes, Steve was a real bunny! Shanna’s friends had a bunny named Steve who lived under their bed. One day, while pet-sitting, she went to feed him, and he wasn’t there. She called the neighbors, and everyone joined the search. As she looked under and around everything, she thought: this would make a great children’s book.
About seven years later, she decided to either write it or stop talking about it. Shanna loves trying new things. They don’t have to be perfect; they just have to be new experiences.
A collaboration that waited 20 years
Shanna shared an office with an artist named Chris Jones and asked him to illustrate the book. His first drawing became the cover: a bunny with a little suitcase covered in stickers from cities around the world. Shanna knew right away they were on the same wavelength. They collaborated on every illustration, bringing her vision to life.
Then the book went into a drawer. Every few years, Shanna asked around about publishers and reached out, with no response.
About 20 years later, she met Amy and Nancy Harrington of The Passionistas Project, who had heard she had a book. They fell in love with it and offered to publish it.
By then, Chris had moved to Orange County, married, and started a family. Shanna found an old email address and reached out. He was over the moon. He had lost hope that the book would ever be published, so he had never even told his wife about it!
The whole process has been deeply collaborative, with Chris and the Harringtons invested in every decision. Shanna is already working on a second book, and Chris is all in.
She believes she was waiting for the right time, the right moment and the right people, and it was worth it.
Inside the Story
The book is written entirely in rhyme, which Shanna says was much harder than she expected.
The story is told by an eight-year-old girl whose family can’t find Steve. As the neighbors help search, her imagination runs wild. Did Steve go to Toronto? To Rome? One illustration shows him zipping past the Colosseum on a Vespa. Another shows a long desert road stretching ahead. The fun comes from all that imagination and anticipation.
In the end, Steve is found right at home. Where? You’ll have to read it! The story closes on a sweet reminder that adventures are fun, and the best place of all is home with the ones you love.
A Story About Community
At its heart, the book is about community: people pulling together when someone needs help, and feeling comfortable saying, “I don’t know what to do. Please help me.”
Shanna grew up with that kind of community in Michigan. With harsh winters, you had to know your neighbors and look out for one another, whether shoveling someone’s car out or picking up groceries for a neighbor who couldn’t get out. Divisions mattered less than knowing you were all in it together. She wanted the book to carry that feeling.
We are so much more connected than we realize. Focusing on division is a choice, and I love that more conversations are coming back to what connects us.
Writing Letters for Strangers
Shanna learned about connection through decades with Amnesty International. Local groups “adopt” cases of prisoners of conscience, people imprisoned for nonviolent reasons such as their faith or beliefs, and write letters on their behalf.
It can be hard to explain why someone in the United States should write for a stranger held in another country. Shanna asks: what if it were your child, or you? Some prisoners who were released said they believed they’d never be seen or heard from again, until letters arrived from Texas, Arizona and Connecticut. They realized someone cared.
The letters also taught Shanna respect. Writers must stay courteous and appeal to officials’ better selves. Beneath our divisions, she says, we all want the same things: good schools for our kids, healthy families and happiness.
Asking for Help Is a Gift
Shanna’s advice for anyone dreaming of something new: don’t let inexperience stop you. She comes from a family of teachers, so learning new things feels natural. Have faith in yourself, and don’t discount something just because you haven’t done it before.
She also shared a lesson about asking for help. Moving often as a child, she was always the new kid, and she became fiercely independent. So independent that friends assumed she had everything under control and didn’t offer help.
Then she realized something. Helping a friend always made her feel good. By never asking for help, she was denying her friends that same good feeling. In hard times, she says, you never know who will show up, and it isn’t always who you expect.
That’s the heart of the book, too: working together, staying unafraid, and keeping the important thing in focus. Everyone needed to make sure Steve was okay, and no one had to do it alone.
Find the Joy
Shanna’s final message: stay open, and find the joy hiding between the stress, frustration and anger. Release what festers inside you, because letting go gives you energy to do good.
We talk often about surrender here: handing God what’s too heavy so we can take the next step. Shanna’s wisdom fits beautifully. Be present, deal with what’s real, and take life one step at a time.
Key Takeaways
Accept people as they are.
Patience and presence free us from the weight of “what if.”
Happiness comes from appreciating what you have.
Try new things, even before you know how.
Some dreams take time, and the right moment is worth waiting for.
Asking for help gives others the gift of helping.
We’re all more connected than we realize.
Listen to the Full Conversation
Hear the whole conversation on Conversations with Carroll, on Spotify, Apple and YouTube. Know a little reader who loves bunnies and big imaginations? Share this one with them.
Thank You, Father.
— Carroll
