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06/03/2020 09:00 AMRetired from a teaching career of 30 years and a grandmother, Frances Coneybeer Russell knew that kids needed help understanding and coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“[M]aybe we as adults understand a little bit of what’s going on, but how can the kids understand?” Russell said. “How do they know what to do?...How can they be helped to understand?”
So she wrote her third children’s book, which she titled I Am Really Afraid. The book, which is narrated from a child’s point of view, is composed in rhyming verse. It begins “I’m really afraid. I don’t know what to do. Where can I go? Who can I talk to?”
The book reassures children that “one day the world will be okay again,” Russell said.
“[A]ll [my] books are rhyming because rhythmic patterns are easy for children to relate to and remember,” said Russell. “Rhyming can empower children to learn and remember the patterns. If a book is read often, the reader should eventually allow the child to complete the rhyme.
“Children love repetition and the repetitive words allow children to become creative thinkers,” she added.
And as a music teacher, Russell is well aware that “[c]hildren have their own built-in rhythm and steady beat,” she said. “[T]hose were the first things I would concentrate on with my little ones at school.”
Russell began writing children’s books around three years ago, after the birth of her first grandchild, Harrison. Harrison’s family was moving, and as they drove away from their beloved home in Massachusetts, Russell’s son took a photo of the house and texted it to Russell, with the message “Goodbye, Cook Street.”
“And right then and there I sat down and within 20 or 25 minutes, I had written a book called Goodbye, Cook Street,” Russell said.
“It’s about Harrison, my grandson,” she continued, “and about all the things he learned to do [while living in the house]. He was very afraid to move and he didn’t know what to expect.
“This is a book to help kids who are going to be moving to know that everything will be okay,” she said. “Because you’re going to have your mommy and daddy and you’re going to have your dogs and you’re going to have [new friends]...So it will be okay in the end.”
Russell’s books are all self-published. She has formed her own company, Buster Brown Books, LLC, and sells many of her books through its website. The books are published in conjunction with Epic Publishing Services.
Her second book, The Marsh, was dedicated to her newborn granddaughter, Molly.
“[E]very window she looks out of, she sees things that live and grow in the marsh,” Russell said. “It’s a learning book. It teaches kids everything that is happening and living and growing.”
Molly, who is now around two years old, reads the book with her parents “three and four and five times a day,” Russell said.
Her parents “read it to her and then she points to the osprey or she points to the heron or she points to the fish in the water,” she explained. “They really spend a lot of time with their kids reading...they love these books because they’re for and about their kids.”
But the books also appeal to children not named Harrison and Molly.
“A lot of people bought [I’m Really Afraid] online,” said Russell. “I’m getting positive feedback from many, many people saying that it’s definitely helping their kids. It’s helping them talk to their kids a little bit more easily about this [virus].
“It gives them something to hold in their hands and to show the children, ‘Hey, there’s a lot of us going through this,’” she continued. “The whole world is going through this. And that seems to be helping [kids] to understand that there’s things that they can do to help themselves get through it, to help other people get through it. And if you do what’s right, maybe things won’t be exactly like they were before but things will slowly get better.”
Russell’s fourth book, Iris, is at the printer. It’s named for and dedicated to her newborn granddaughter.
“It likens a little baby girl being born to an iris flower as they grow and develop,” she said.
And books are in progress: Campfire Dog is about Russell’s beloved dog, Buster Brown, and teaches children about pets getting older and dying. She has also written a trilogy for children about the beginnings of the Revolutionary War in Boston.
“I like writing them,” Russell said. “The writing comes very easily to me. Once I get inspired, it just happens.”
I’m Really Afraid, which is illustrated by McCurdy, is available for purchase at Cindy’s Wines and Spirits and Julie’s Cup of Joe, both in Westbrook. It’s also available online at busterbrownbooks.com, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.