Dr Drew Palacio

Children’s book author and clinical psychologist Dr. Drew Palacio, or “Dr. Drew” as he is known by his colleagues and patients, has provided care and therapeutic interventions to children and families for more than ten years, particularly child-centered cognitive therapy for anger and aggression. His new picture book, Shrieks and Sounds and Things Abound, explores a young boy’s difficulty in coping with frustration when he is continuously interrupted while reading his favorite comic book.

Dr. Drew is always ready when inspiration strikes; he carries a notepad and pencil in the event an idea must be scribbled down. Many of those ideas come from his patients, his daydreams, his own childhood, and his pets. Dr. Drew thinks a great book is one that conveys a message or lesson, especially when focusing on a child’s socio-emotional development and empowering them to surmount a challenge. He hopes his young readers come away from his stories understanding that big emotions are normal and that it’s okay to need help and guidance to navigate them.

When he isn’t writing entertaining and resourceful stories for children, Dr. Drew loves reading children’s books, classical epics, scientific discourse, and old poetry. He also enjoys comics books, puppets, video games, baking and candy-making, exercise, travel, architecture, and art.

Dr. Drew is a doctor of clinical psychology who has been working with children and families and presenting on topics of child psychology and child development for more than ten years. He serves as the director of community support services and an outpatient clinician at his agency. He lives in Kansas with an orange calico cat and three bunnies. Shrieks and Sounds and Things Abound is his debut children’s book.