Hello and Happy Monday! I hope all is well in your respective households and that you are holding up fine during this Coronavirus pandemic. If you are not, I will pray for you that things get better. I also urge you to seek out various resources offered through channels such as Headspace and Better Help to provide you with ways to get through this struggle. I also wanted to inform you that I have two free Ebooks (one of which is available right now) that I am making available through my website. The first is If Corona was a person which tells the tale of the Coronavirus as a fictional character of a fox that can trick you into thinking it is harmless. I created this story because I felt that some of our fellow Americans failed to take this virus seriously. In my job, I talk to several people a day, some of which have contracted this deadly virus and they tell me of how devastating it is. So, I created a story for children and adults as a reminder to continue to be cautious to reduce transmission of this disease. I knew that the story would be received better if it was illustrated so I found an illustrator by the name of Alexander S. Allen through Twitter who was happy to take on this job. Little did I know that this illustrator was also autistic, which to be honest, I was really excited about since my son is also autistic. I think having an autistic illustrator was a great way to highlight the fact that despite the challenges that people with autism have, they can be extremely creative and do well in the arts. This illustrator did an amazing job creating the illustrations and even came up with the concept of using a sly fox and rabbits. I appreciate his ingenuity as even I would not have been this clever!

The next book I have coming soon is Our Masked Heroes. In this book, I honor the essential employees who risk their lives every day to serve the public during a pandemic. I could not imagine if I had to go out to work and brave the unforeseen dangers out there every day. I am fortunate enough to have gotten a position that was a work from home job right before Co-vid 19 so I feel very fortunate. I am thankful for the folks who keep go out to work to help manage this chaos. I don’t think there is enough I can say about these brave individuals. My illustrator, Saad Ali who is from Pakinstan, did a great job representing each employee as a “super-hero” and ensured that all ethnic backgrounds were covered in this book.  I am lucky to get to work with such great illustrators who are not only professional but great people too!

I hope that you will take the time to download each book and show it to your children so you can continue to have candid conversations about Coronavirus and all that is going on. It is a very troubling time for many, and I know that children may feel it too but don’t have the words to express it. Check in with them and make sure that they have the education to know how to protect themselves. Also, if you are an essential employee, my second book is a great way for your kids to understand the importance of the work you are doing and the risks you are taking. I wish you all well and do take good care of yourself and your families.

Kira