Two medical students write children's book to explain why we've been staying home
PITTSBURGH - How do you explain to your child why we are staying home during the pandemic and what coronavirus is? A new book written by two medical students could help with that.
Two medical students, Devon Scott and Samantha Harris, recently wrote a children’s book about coronavirus to help parents communicate with their kids about why they have been staying home during the coronavirus crisis.
"Why We Stay Home" introduces us to two sisters - Millie and Suzie.
When the younger sister, Suzie, inquires about coronavirus, Millie explains.
"Why We Stay Home," came from the brilliant minds of Scott, a student researcher at the University of Pittsburgh and his girlfriend, Harris, a medical student.
"They keep hearing words like 'coronavirus' and 'quarantine' but do they really know what it means?" Harris asked.
The book explains the terms and even gives examples of who’s most at risk for contracting the virus.
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"This is what social distancing is...this is what quarantine means and grandma and grandpa can be more affected than everybody else. And then it goes into how we can still stay connected over social media," Scott explained.
The couple wanted a message that would make it easy for kids to understand what’s happening around the world. And the world wants the story of Millie and Suzie too.
"People from all over the world like Syria, Brazil, The United Kingdom want to translate it to their native language so they can share it with children there," said Harris.
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Scott and Harris say the book has been downloaded more than 40,000 times.
Another bonus? It's free.
They have another book coming out soon called "What Happens When You Break a Bone."
They also aspire to create a series of books to encourage children to go into the field of medicine.
This story was reported from Los Angeles.