Nurse Florence: Why Do I Need the Flu Shot? is an educational children’s book that explains the flu virus and the importance of vaccination in simple, science-based terms. What inspired you to focus on explaining flu vaccines to young readers?

I think this book answers the questions even adults have.  For some, it seems strange that we have to get a new vaccine every year.  Some might ask, Does that mean the old vaccine doesn’t work anymore?  I wanted to clearly communicate to families the importance of getting the vaccine every year and why it is needed.  The virus changes over time and I wanted to try to make that clear.

How did you approach simplifying complex scientific concepts like immunology and vaccines for a children’s audience?

I keep pages simplified with a main concept every page.  It is important to not overload information with children.  I think even adults appreciate that approach.

The book emphasizes community protection and empathy. Why was it important for you to include this message, and how do you hope children will respond to it?

As a Registered Nurse, I’m thinking about protecting the community and using empathy to provide a therapeutic environment.  I would like children to see Nurse Florence’s empathy and care for others so that they will want to imitate that behavior.  We need role models and Nurse Florence can be one.

What challenges did you face when trying to make medical ideas engaging and easy to visualize through illustrations?

I trust in my illustrators’ abilities to present science concepts to kids which are visually appealing and revealing core science concepts.  The Nurse Florence series is powerful because of this approach where the illustrations compliment the writing, and the writing compliments the drawings.

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