Inspired by her twin brother Ken Tran, PHS junior Katie Tran published her first children’s book, “When Ken Needs a Minute” on March 5, aiming to help children manage overwhelming emotions with compassion.
According to the book’s description, it is a story about understanding big feelings, practicing self-regulation, empathy, and confidence.
“I’m trying to convey that everyone just needs a minute to take time for themselves, especially kids with neurodivergence. It’s okay to take a break sometimes if you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed,” Tran said.
Tran and illustrator sophomore Annie Szymanski said that they first came up with the idea last year and began writing the book over the summer, finishing it in December.
“Annie and I both volunteer at this library and we saw a lack of the amount of books for kids with autism and neurodiversities. We just wanted to write something,” Tran said.
Tran said that the process of writing took input from many experts.
“We interviewed a bunch of speech therapists and people who work with kids with neurodiversities to help us write and illustrate the book in a way that accommodates kids with neurodiversities and helps them better understand it,” Tran said.
Szymanski said that all aspects of her illustration designs are done with purpose, each page taking her a few hours to illustrate.
“We chose really simplistic calm shapes and colors to make it not over stimulating. It’s supposed to be simple and in a way which is easy to read,” Szymanski said. “I hope they understand what the emotions are trying to convey so they can correlate it to how they feel.”
PHS english teacher Eduardo Wolbert also contributed to the book, reading drafts and making suggestions.
“I was very impressed with how it was able to communicate some very serious and sensitive topics and also how it was able to educate a younger audience without sacrificing some of the difficulty and importance of these topics,” Wolbert said.
Wolbert also said that he was blown away by the pair’s determination and work ethic.
“They showed up, they did the work, they wrote the pages. They kept working on it. They asked people for help. That kind of passion and motivation to drive them to do something like that, it’s not just impressive — it’s very inspiring,” Wolbert said.
But Tran’s ambitions don’t stop there. Tran said that she has a bigger goal for this book: to inspire others around the world.
“We’re translating it into a Vietnamese version and we’re going to get this book into rural areas of Vietnam where calming practices aren’t really encouraged,” Tran said.
“When Ken Needs a Minute” is now available for purchase on Amazon.com. All profits will be donated to charity.
