This is what turning life’s lemons into lemonade looks like: a 4-year-old girl transformed her misfortune into a book to help others. After being told she could not have the rock she lodged in her ear removed, resulting in her hearing loss, Jovina Arulandu (12) took her unfortunate news and, with Victoria Yu (12), Elizabeth Brown, a recent Oakton graduate, and inspiration from Yu’s mother, created something remarkable. Together, they wrote a book aimed at reaching other lives to leave a positive impact. Hear That: Squiggle Squiggle is a book that takes its audience on a journey through the ear, teaching them about its anatomy and how to protect it to prevent further events that can negatively affect their ears and hearing.
In support of their nonprofit organization, imagIne.here, Arulandu, Yu, and Brown created their book to “do something more than just our educational outreach program.” Arulandu explained that she and Yu planned to create a unique story idea that also served as a cautionary and informational lesson for a child. The story initially follows two friends on their journey in the forest. After their quest, a doctor helped get rid of a little passenger within one of the friend’s ears! Alongside the plot, Elizabeth Brown provided beautiful illustrations as a visual to teach young learners the components of the inner ear. With both the writing and the illustrations, the book became a fun way for elementary-aged children to learn about the one part of their body that most are not aware of: the ear!
A good story begins with sitting down and deciding the elements that’ll go into the story. With the first step being the storyline, Arulandu and Yu explained that it took careful thought to provide audiences with a story that was not too simple, yet easy enough for children to understand. The next step for the young storytellers was to add visuals through rough sketches; by using the artistic talents of Brown, they incorporated beautifully detailed, yet small, designs as informational imagery. As the story came together, the next step was to test the book with their target audience to understand what to fix and when to send the book out into the world.
As the book’s plot began to come to life, with research from the internet and Arulandu’s personal experience, it moved into the editing phase. The story was read to children from ages three to twelve to receive their honest opinions, discover grammar mistakes, and consider possible changes to the visuals to not only enlighten, but to entertain their young and impressionable audience. After, the book came to AP Language and Composition teacher Mrs. Taggart, who looked over the story and provided her expertise to guide the authors through the publication process. Here is where they reached the step to finalization: self-publishing the book for readers to enjoy and to raise awareness on ear-related issues!
The book’s journey even goes beyond the website it’s published on. It is available on the shelves of Chantilly Regional Library, and will eventually branch out to every other Fairfax County library to deliver its message to more kids in Northern Virginia. At the end of the book, authors Arulandu and Yu, along with illustrator Brown, mention their non-profit organization imagIne.here to raise awareness, receive support for this cause, and help support others with ear issues. For any aspiring young authors who wish to create, complete, and publish their own stories, they gave the advice to “actually be passionate about what you’re writing and to keep working on it,” ensuring the ideas make it from the brainstorming process to the firm feel of paper. These three collaborators have created a beautifully done picture book to inspire their young readers to protect their ears and regulate what goes into them, bringing attention to an aspect of the body that is normally overlooked. Congratulations to these successful writers, and good luck to them!
