EVEN HEROES FEEL SAD: FIGHTING CORONAVIRUS TOGETHER

Inspiration:

As a professional children's book author, a former public health professional at CDC, and a mom of two, I felt drawn to participate in this challenge. I knew that I had to address kids' emotional needs before I could help them understand prevention messages.

What it does:

This story addresses children's emotional needs, while providing CDC prevention messages and messages of hope appropriate for children ages 6-9.

How I built it:

I wrote a first draft of this story by drawing from CDC's website for talking to kids about COVID-19. Then, I shared the story with my picture book critique groups several times to ensure it was emotionally engaging as a children's book and then with public health professionals to ensure accuracy in the prevention messaging. I then read the story to my kids and asked friends read the story to their kids to gauge their interest and reactions. Then, I began working with a professional illustrator, Laurie Smollett Kutscera, to create the final product. Together, Laurie and I honed the text and discussed the most appropriate images to accompany the story and reinforce the prevention messages. Then, Laurie completed 22 illustrations in pastel pencil in 7 days (an amazing feat!). She then edited the images on a computer and laid out the text.

Challenges I ran into:

Ensuring accuracy in the text and illustrations while maintaining the story's emotional resonance was challenging. Laurie had to find a way to illustrate faster than she is used to as a professional illustrator. Using pastel pencils allowed her to make smaller drawings, which took less time to complete. She was also able to reuse certain images in the background of the illustrations to both save time and make the book cohesive.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of:

I'm proud that this story addresses both children's emotional and public health questions in one consistent, engaging narrative. I’m also proud to combine eight years of CDC experience with two years of experience as a professional children’s author. This project feels like the culmination of many of my work and personal life experiences. Laurie is very proud of completing an entire picture book's worth of illustrations in under a week (a process that usually takes months or even a year). We are both very proud of the finished product and hope it helps kids who are seeking information and comfort in this difficult time.

What I learned:

Ensuring accuracy in illustrations and text can be difficult, but is critical to avoid misunderstanding. I also learned a lot about the interplay between text and illustration and how text needs to be edited to complement illustration rather than competing with it.