OTTAWA -- An Ottawa mother has become a children’s book author after trying to answer some of the question her son had about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Suzanne Belliveau wrote ‘Scrub: How a simple soap saved the day’. It’s a story about a character named Scrub, a bar of soap who fights a villainous virus.
“He’s a soap that loves to wash the germs away,” Belliveau tells CTV News Ottawa.
She wrote the book after her two and a half-year-old had questions early into the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.
“As days went on, and we still weren’t able to go to stores or the parks; and as we had to wash our hands every time we came back, I wanted to have a better explanation for him.”
Her son got right into it.
“The first time that we read through it, it was fun because he smashed the book, and he goes ‘smash that virus!’” Belliveau said.
‘Scrub: How a simple soap saved the day’ is an illustrated book that teaches children the importance of washing their hands.
“It's a different way to talk about this and a different way to motivate kids without giving an order or instruction to go wash your hands,” Belliveau says.
It also helps to explain some of the big words that kids have been hearing.
“Talk to him using the correct words, like coronavirus, without having it be something scary,” says Belliveau.
She’s also been reading the book to classrooms over Zoom and says the reactions have been excellent.
The book is published in English and French. It’s available online directly from Suzanne or locally in Ottawa from Books on Beechwood.
Belliveau says that she is also donating a portion of the proceeds from the book to food banks.
