We are so excited about The Big Thing, a new children’s book that explains the Covid-19 crisis through the eyes of Bea, a five-year-old girl while also teaching her about finding silver linings, family love, duty and most importantly, resilience.
In the book, Bea learns about discovering the good in the bad and notices the sky turning bluer as the world slows down and our environment begins to heal. And Bea learns how to reach out to her friends, family and teacher when things get tough, because we cannot conquer fear on our own.
This collaborative effort was written by Alex Friedman and Angela Meng, along with Uruguayan illustrator, Alvaro Gonzalez, and two translators to create a story that would help children, parents and teachers across all cultures.
The book was written, illustrated and translated in record time. “We had this idea on April 1st over a Whatsapp message” says Alex, “ and within a month it was finished thanks to the work of some truly talented and special collaborators. It was a deeply healing experience to do something creative and positive for children and parents, across nationalities, in a time when it is easy to feel helpless. Now our mission is to share this hopeful message as far and wide as we can.”
To assure the story would resonate with people from all around the world, the authors chose names that are simple to say in many languages and words that can be easily translated. “A global pandemic requires a unified global response” say Alex and Angela. “This is not the time to blame others or work in isolation, but to recognize we are all as one, regardless of where we live or what language we speak. Only together will we manage through this pandemic and only together can we find the silver linings in this difficult time”.
“The Big Thing” is free to read and download on https://www.thebigthing.org/ in English, Spanish or Chinese. The book is also available on Amazon in Kindle and printed copy.
All proceeds will go to Covid-19 charities.
