Local medical student writes COVID-19 children’s book

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Growing up in a pandemic it can be a weird time to be a kid. We know masks and social distancing can be a tough adjustment for our kids. But one Medical College of Georgia student is making it easier through his new children’s book.

Wesley Walters is a future doctor studying at the Medical College of Georgia. He’s also the author of the book “The Virus That Came to Town.”

“We were thinking of ways of how can we create a public education tool so that people don’t have to relearn these things in the future for any possible pandemic, and after brainstorming for a while I came up with a children’s book,” said Wesley Walters.

He says the book was released during a time where the world is seeing more pediatric COVID-19 cases.

“If there is a time that this story needs to be heard it is now if not a few months ago. It’s so important for kids to be wearing a mask right now especially when we’re all going back to school,” he said.

He says the book is about a family learning to live through the pandemic.

“They feel trapped as a lot of us felt. What do we do, how do we handle this, and in that the savior of the day is a doctor who comes in and says I have a handful of things so if we follow that we can get the virus out of town,” he said.

If you look through the book Walters says you will notice its characters are very inclusive.

“That was something that was always at the beginning of the book was the family being multiracial and the doctor being an African American woman. We really wanted that to be important in the book and that character be in the position of power,” he said.

And at that the end you can find a song about washing your hands written by Walters who says it goes to the tune of Jingle Bells.

“Washing hands, washing hands washing is so great. I wash my hands to not get sick the germs will have to wait,” he said.

And if you want to hear the rest he says you will have to read it yourself.

Walters says plenty of friends, family, and children helped him pull off this book including an art teacher in Alabama who illustrates it. If you want to learn more about the book or buy one for your kids, visit: https://www.thevirusthatcametotown.com/.

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