Finn & the Unwelcome Traveler

Inspiration

We are a two mom, two daughter (11 and 14) family that jumped on the opportunity to participate when we saw an article posted by a friend on Facebook. Our oldest daughter, Ryan, is a passionate artist and her little sister is a patient problem solver with a desire to help. We knew if we joined forces we could create something really helpful and really cool.

What it does

"Finn & the Unwelcome Traveler" is a graphic novel that takes you first on a bike ride through town and ultimately into an adventure inside the imagination of Finn, an 8 year old boy. After noticing that all of the stores he passed on his bike ride were closed and that there weren't as many people out as usual, Finn's mom hands him a doctor's mask and asks him to put it on. Confused, Finn, as most 8 year old's would, starts to ask lots of questions. As his mom answers, Finn's imagination drifts into a world where COVID becomes a superhero villain. Finn then spends the rest of the story learning how he can help defeat this villain and ultimately realizes that we all have a role to play to not only help keep ourselves, but everyone around us, safe. We all have to do our part to defeat the "Unwelcome Traveler."

How I built it

Story was built using standard word processing tools. Illustrations were done by hand on an iPad (Ryan) with additional editing in Adobe Photoshop. All artwork is original and drawn by Ryan - an 8th grader here in Atlanta.

Challenges I ran into

Other than navigating differing opinions and ideas and making sure everyone's voice and contribution was heard and considered, no other real challenges :)

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Wow...too many to name. As one of the moms on this team, I must say that I am most proud of how we all came together and after a slow start the ideas started to flow. To create something educational, beautiful and interesting is an amazing thing. Especially for a group of 4 people that have never done anything like this before!

What I learned

The kids learned more about COVID through research that we did for the book. They also learned how to work well together and within a team.

What's next for Finn & the Unwelcome Traveler

Finn has a big future ahead. He's empowered, he's confident, he's knowledgeable and he knows that he can make a difference. He's going to help educate his friends and family and turn as many people as he can into "citizen superheroes" so that we defeat COVID-19!