Morning Leaves: Cultivating a Life of Beauty, Meaning, and Joy

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR

“The poems within Morning Leaves are tender, compassionate and full of wonder. Laing's writing and Kelly's illustrations are conduits for healing and hope.”—Kristin A. Meekhof, co-author of A Widow's Guide to Healing 

Morning Leaves is a gift to all who open their eyes to its images and their hearts to its whispers and exhortations.”—Faith Salie, Emmy-winning contributor to CBS News Sunday Morning and author of Approval Junkie

A radiant fusion of poetry and nature art, Morning Leaves: Cultivating a Life of Beauty, Meaning, and Joy is a tender, soul-stirring meditation on grief, healing, and the quiet joy of rediscovering beauty one morning at a time.

Steeped in beautiful art and verse that invites reflection, Morning Leaves is the perfect gift book or self-purchase.

Morning Leaves is an invitation to dream of a life where you are moving away from whatever has stopped you. It might be a death, trauma, loss of a relationship, some wild dark night of the soul is upon you and you enter this book, these poems and Kelly Leahy Radding’s magnificent nature art.

You enter the possibility: Walk it. Talk it. Write it. Create it. Keep moving forward. Find your joy. Find your blessing. Find who you are going to be in your wild and precious life - one butterfly flight, one mourning dove wing, one frog leap at a time. This is a book that invites a journey into wholeness through creativity and conversation and writing and movement.

Healing isn’t static. It’s energetic! I am here to take your hand. Morning Leaves is a love letter to the growing soul who wants to move on to the next place and find joy. 

AWARD WINS FOR MORNING LEAVES:
2023 FOREWORD INDIES AWARDS WINNER
2023 PUBWEST DESIGN AWARDS WINNER
2024 FEATHERED QUILL BOOK AWARDS WINNER | GOLD
2024 IBPA BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AWARDS WINNER | GOLD

MORE PRAISE FOR MORNING LEAVES:
“The poems within Morning Leaves are tender, compassionate and full of wonder. Laing's writing and Kelly's illustrations are conduits for healing and hope.”—Kristin A. Meekhof, co-author of A Widow's Guide to Healing

“So beautifully written and thoughtfully constructed. Visceral. Visual. Vulnerable. The passages cracked open my heart.”—Amy K. Hutchens, award-winning speaker and bestselling author of Get It and The Secrets Leaders Keep

1147806747
Morning Leaves: Cultivating a Life of Beauty, Meaning, and Joy

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR

“The poems within Morning Leaves are tender, compassionate and full of wonder. Laing's writing and Kelly's illustrations are conduits for healing and hope.”—Kristin A. Meekhof, co-author of A Widow's Guide to Healing 

Morning Leaves is a gift to all who open their eyes to its images and their hearts to its whispers and exhortations.”—Faith Salie, Emmy-winning contributor to CBS News Sunday Morning and author of Approval Junkie

A radiant fusion of poetry and nature art, Morning Leaves: Cultivating a Life of Beauty, Meaning, and Joy is a tender, soul-stirring meditation on grief, healing, and the quiet joy of rediscovering beauty one morning at a time.

Steeped in beautiful art and verse that invites reflection, Morning Leaves is the perfect gift book or self-purchase.

Morning Leaves is an invitation to dream of a life where you are moving away from whatever has stopped you. It might be a death, trauma, loss of a relationship, some wild dark night of the soul is upon you and you enter this book, these poems and Kelly Leahy Radding’s magnificent nature art.

You enter the possibility: Walk it. Talk it. Write it. Create it. Keep moving forward. Find your joy. Find your blessing. Find who you are going to be in your wild and precious life - one butterfly flight, one mourning dove wing, one frog leap at a time. This is a book that invites a journey into wholeness through creativity and conversation and writing and movement.

Healing isn’t static. It’s energetic! I am here to take your hand. Morning Leaves is a love letter to the growing soul who wants to move on to the next place and find joy. 

AWARD WINS FOR MORNING LEAVES:
2023 FOREWORD INDIES AWARDS WINNER
2023 PUBWEST DESIGN AWARDS WINNER
2024 FEATHERED QUILL BOOK AWARDS WINNER | GOLD
2024 IBPA BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AWARDS WINNER | GOLD

MORE PRAISE FOR MORNING LEAVES:
“The poems within Morning Leaves are tender, compassionate and full of wonder. Laing's writing and Kelly's illustrations are conduits for healing and hope.”—Kristin A. Meekhof, co-author of A Widow's Guide to Healing

“So beautifully written and thoughtfully constructed. Visceral. Visual. Vulnerable. The passages cracked open my heart.”—Amy K. Hutchens, award-winning speaker and bestselling author of Get It and The Secrets Leaders Keep

9.99 Pre Order
Morning Leaves: Cultivating a Life of Beauty, Meaning, and Joy

Morning Leaves: Cultivating a Life of Beauty, Meaning, and Joy

Morning Leaves: Cultivating a Life of Beauty, Meaning, and Joy

Morning Leaves: Cultivating a Life of Beauty, Meaning, and Joy

eBook

$9.99 
Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on March 17, 2026

Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
WANT A NOOK?  Explore Now

Related collections and offers


Overview

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR

“The poems within Morning Leaves are tender, compassionate and full of wonder. Laing's writing and Kelly's illustrations are conduits for healing and hope.”—Kristin A. Meekhof, co-author of A Widow's Guide to Healing 

Morning Leaves is a gift to all who open their eyes to its images and their hearts to its whispers and exhortations.”—Faith Salie, Emmy-winning contributor to CBS News Sunday Morning and author of Approval Junkie

A radiant fusion of poetry and nature art, Morning Leaves: Cultivating a Life of Beauty, Meaning, and Joy is a tender, soul-stirring meditation on grief, healing, and the quiet joy of rediscovering beauty one morning at a time.

Steeped in beautiful art and verse that invites reflection, Morning Leaves is the perfect gift book or self-purchase.

Morning Leaves is an invitation to dream of a life where you are moving away from whatever has stopped you. It might be a death, trauma, loss of a relationship, some wild dark night of the soul is upon you and you enter this book, these poems and Kelly Leahy Radding’s magnificent nature art.

You enter the possibility: Walk it. Talk it. Write it. Create it. Keep moving forward. Find your joy. Find your blessing. Find who you are going to be in your wild and precious life - one butterfly flight, one mourning dove wing, one frog leap at a time. This is a book that invites a journey into wholeness through creativity and conversation and writing and movement.

Healing isn’t static. It’s energetic! I am here to take your hand. Morning Leaves is a love letter to the growing soul who wants to move on to the next place and find joy. 

AWARD WINS FOR MORNING LEAVES:
2023 FOREWORD INDIES AWARDS WINNER
2023 PUBWEST DESIGN AWARDS WINNER
2024 FEATHERED QUILL BOOK AWARDS WINNER | GOLD
2024 IBPA BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AWARDS WINNER | GOLD

MORE PRAISE FOR MORNING LEAVES:
“The poems within Morning Leaves are tender, compassionate and full of wonder. Laing's writing and Kelly's illustrations are conduits for healing and hope.”—Kristin A. Meekhof, co-author of A Widow's Guide to Healing

“So beautifully written and thoughtfully constructed. Visceral. Visual. Vulnerable. The passages cracked open my heart.”—Amy K. Hutchens, award-winning speaker and bestselling author of Get It and The Secrets Leaders Keep


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781636284736
Publisher: Red Hen Press
Publication date: 03/17/2026
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 120

About the Author

Laing F. Rikkers was raised in New York City and earned her BA from Harvard College, followed by an MA in psychology from Columbia University. She spent most of her career as a medical device investor and co-founded ProSomnus Sleep Technologies. Currently, she works as an executive coach and public speaker, supporting leaders through periods of transition and growth. Laing lives in Southern California with her husband and their spirited dog and is the proud mother of two adult children.

Kelly Leahy Radding honors the natural world she loves through her art. She finds all aspects of nature interesting subjects for her paintings. Animals, plants, butterflies, rocks, the sometimes overlooked minute details of Nature, are to her an integral and necessary part of the whole. Kelly grew up in rural Connecticut on the edge of a state forest and has come full circle living on a farm in Columbia, Connecticut at the end of a dirt road surrounded by woods. She shares the farm with her husband, her brother, three gray cats, seven elderly goats and one perfect border collie.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews