CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Explaining coronavirus and the world we live in right now isn’t easy, and it’s even harder when the audience is children. Four women, three of them doctors, decided to do something about it by writing a new children’s book called “We Stand Together, Just Six Feet Apart.”
When your audience is little, the questions they ask can range from absurdly funny to pure innocence.
Dr. Renee Kleris began to jot down notes and ideas and pulled in two fellow doctors to help write a prescription for talking about coronavirus to kids, which in a few months, became a children’s book that covers a big topic for little people everywhere, including classrooms.
“And this is where we really wanted to highlight people giving back, thinking about our food supply and grocery stores,” said Renee.
“Children are probably going to need support in understanding this and getting through it, and we thought, no time like the present, let’s see if we can put together a children’s book,” said” Dr. Rebecca MacDonell-Yilmaz.
With two of the doctors also being moms, they could relate because they were hearing many of these questions at home. “When will we be able to take our masks off, when will we be able to travel again, things like that,” said Dr. Kathrine Clarridge whose own children were asking plenty of questions.
With kids, it’s about pictures to help tell the story. For that, the group- of Doctor-Authors turned to friend and artist Catherine (Katie) Wilson, who also drew upon younger family members for creativity in this book as she quarantined in North Georgia.
“With your own nieces and nephews, it was like you had your own little focus group?” said Wilson. “Yes, it was because we were in quarantine for 4 months on the farm, so it was a perfect opportunity.”
The author group is donating any proceeds to a group called “No Kid Hungry”, an organization that is helping to feed school-age children as schools are closed for the pandemic.
“We Stand Together, Just Six Feet Apart can be bought on Amazon.com for just under $12.00 for the softcover version.