Dancing in the Rain: Growing Up during the Covid-19 Crisis

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  Dancing in the Rain

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  comfort

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  talking with daddy

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  baking with momma

Inspiration

In completing a search for Covid-19 books, I found that most books about this current crisis are meant for very young readers. We developed a book that captures the imagination of 2nd through 4th graders, whether the book is read to them or they read alone. Personal experiences and seeing how children/families around us are coping through this crisis helped drive the storyline.

What it does

Encourages children ages 7 - 9 to engage in healthy responses to this crisis.

How we built it

Makayla Fenters illustrated based upon the original text. We tested by having elementary teachers and students in the target age group to give input after reading the initial project, and then incorporated their suggestions into the final project.

Challenges we ran into

Making sure the language was appropriate and the characters were engaging without being too "Leave It to Beaver"-ish.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Makayla's beautiful and fanciful illustrations really bring to life the story line. In addition, we feel we produced a book that is engaging and encouraging as well as providing a snapshot of the historical timeline we find ourselves living.

What we learned

It's fun to collaborate with very different age groups: Current teachers, elementary aged students, a retired high school English teacher and a college student found common ground in producing this e-book.

What's next for Dancing in the Rain: Growing Up during the Covid-19 Crisis

Hopefully, winning the Emory Global Health Institute's e-book contest