Nurse Florence®, How Do We Understand Time? follows three friends discussing with the school nurse how the same period of time can feel like it’s going by fast or slow, depending on what you are doing. What gave you the idea of writing about this topic for children? 

I love history and physics.  Albert Einstein was obsessed with light which is what helped give him the drive to discover the Theory of Relativity.  When I learned about the parts of the brain the help process time, I wanted to help people understand that our reality of time is also constructed by how our brain processes things.  Some diseases can affect the brain which may also affect the way the brain processes time.  I think that is really interesting.

In your book, you discuss the concept of time and how the brain processes it. You also introduce readers to topics like Parkinson’s disease and the methods scientists use to study the brain. How do you strike a balance between providing technical information and keeping your readers engaged without overwhelming them?

I don’t know.  I believe I have a gift of synthesizing complex info and bringing it down to the level of a child.  We should use our gifts to benefit the world and avoid concealing our gifts.

What’s the most surprising thing you learned while writing your books?

I am surprised that it is not discussed more and not openly known that time processing for people with Parkinson’s Disease can be different from the rest of us.  Knowing this can affect our understanding of our world.  Our world is complex, and we should embrace the complexity.   

What do you hope to teach or inspire in children reading your book?

I hope many children will consider careers in the health sciences. 

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Sometimes it seems only a nurse can bring technical information down to an understanding that an ordinary person can grasp. The Nurse Florence® book series provides high quality medical information that even a child can grasp. By introducing young kids to correct terminology and science concepts at an early age, we can help increase our children’s health literacy level as well as help to prepare them for courses and jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. We need more scientists so I hope that many children will enjoy this book series and consider a job involving science. Introducing Some Medical Words to Kids in Every Book A Movement of Global Health Promotion and Literacy