Captain Corona and the 19 COVID Warriors

Amid this scary time of quarantines and the spread of COVID-19, children need to see the good things that are happening. Captain Corona takes children on a journey to see 19 groups of brave helpers.

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Inspiration

During the first days of COVID-19, my husband, a physician, was following the WHO and Johns Hopkins websites every hour. Every night over dinner, we would discuss what was happening overseas. To lighten the mood, our family started calling him "Captain Corona."

On March 13th, I was at Wal-Mart in Savannah, GA and managed to snag the last bottle of hand sanitizer from the shelves. There was a kind store clerk who congratulated me on my score and, with a smile on her face, told me to "Be well."

As I drove home that day, I reflected back to my childhood and something that Mr. Rogers used to say. He told us that when there were scary things on the news to look for the helpers. I had just encountered one at Wal-Mart. That store clerk who was busily cleaning and restocking shelves was one of the helpers.

When I got home, I made a list of 19 groups of people who are true "COVID Warriors" and the book, Captain Corona and the 19 COVID Warriors was launched.

What it does

The book starts with an age-appropriate, but brief, explanation of the virus, how it transmits, and how serious it can become. Captain Corona tells a group of frightened children that there are so many helpers and then takes them on a flying tour to visit the 19 COVID Warriors: everything from healthcare workers to first responders to custodians, to event planners to delivery people.

How we built it

The team had three rules: 1. Do it with love, 2. Do it fast, 3. Don't wait for perfection.

I wrote the first draft of the manuscript in a day and a half. My husband, Eric, reviewed the medical explanations. My editor, Julie Bestry did her magic with the manuscript in under two days, and the illustrator, Brittany Curry, had all 32 pages illustrated in less than a week. With help from my graphic designer, Jen Dangelo, I laid the book out in Microsoft Publisher, and she produced a finalized PDF.

The whole process took ten days from Wal-Mart day to PDF release.

Challenges we ran into

There was no time to find a traditional publisher. We also got rejected by Amazon - twice. They would not allow us to put the book on Kindle. Our plan was to donate all profits to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP), but Amazon was just not going to budge.

So, using a Mailchimp landing page and adding a page to my website, melissagratias.com/captaincorona/, we went to work on getting the word out that this was a free book for anyone to download. We encouraged all downloaders to "pay it forward" with a donation to the CDP or a local organization helping with COVID-19 containment and recovery.

A local Savannah PR firm owned by Marjorie Young came to the rescue on that front. She engaged her team to write a press release for the book and it made the front page of the Savannah Morning News.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

People.com picked up the story. That was a real high point for the entire Captain Corona team. Additionally, we have received countless emails from educators, school counselors, parents, and grandparents thanking us for the book.

What we learned

There are no limits on what a team of committed people can do when properly motivated and quarantined by a global pandemic.

What's next for Captain Corona and the 19 COVID Warriors

We have launched two videos of the book. One is an author reading (me) that we recommend for the older elementary students. The other is an animated version of the story (made with PowerPoint) that was voiced by a professional actor, Akil Jackson, who volunteered his time to help.

Built With

  • adobe
  • microsoft
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