Lifelong friends, Peter Ivey and Andrew Blake are innovative Caribbean entrepreneurs and… first-time children’s books authors.
Both fathers to 9-year-old boys, who are among the millions of children in the world who have been thrown into new and unfamiliar circumstances as schools and communities respond to the coronavirus pandemic, their inaugural literary collaboration was guided by consciousness and love.
The duo describes the e-book as an entertaining and educational resource to provide intellectual and emotional support to young children as they navigate ‘the new norm’ of COVID-19.
Coronavirus: Get outta here!, which was published in March 2020, seemed to be a standalone resource for youth Covid-19 education at the time. While most people were still trying to make sense of what was happening, Ivey and Blake made the decision to fast-track their publication as a digital resource to be free and available to all. The duo connected and teamed up with UNICEF during early weeks of the pandemic to feature the children’s book on UNICEF’s website as a global platform for all to access.
In the months since release, Coronavirus: Get outta here! has garnered thousands of likes and shares across social media. It is the featured children’s book in the massive “Better Together” campaign run by Digicel to highlight how the Caribbean region ‘rose to the occasion’ during the pandemic.
Now, almost nine months later, as schools continue to adjust to distance and at-home learning, families grapple with difficult conversations and unchartered territory, and children navigate the unique emotions and questions surrounding a plethora of lifestyle adjustments, Coronavirus: Get outta here! is more important than ever before.
Teachers, principals, parents, and friends – we hope that you will enjoy and share this free book with your children and extended community.
Thank you for all that you continue to do to keep your families and communities safe. And for those of you who are at-home, don’t forget to check out our growing collection of Read Alouds.