Girl’s first book helps children across Canada deal with virus
Dernederlanden put frustrations and fears into print; 3,000 copies shipped
It started with an eight-year-old having a bad day.
Cora Dernederlanden was worn down because she couldn’t see her friends or go to school, was missing her usual activities and stuck in the house.
It was a feeling many people can identify with.
“When she was crying, I said, ‘Well, you should write a story,’ ” says her mom, Christine. “And the next minute, she went out onto the deck and I didn’t hear from her.
“Then she came back — and she’s only eight, but in teenage fashion she threw it at me like, ‘Here you go, I wrote a story.’ ”
Now, just more than a month later, the St. Catharines girl’s story has been printed in book form with 10,000 copies.
It’s called “Cora and the Corona: One Little Girl’s Journey in Healing in Quarantine.”
Just more than 3,000 copies have already been shipped across Canada to help other kids dealing with the fallout from COVID-19.
“I just started writing” and it wasn’t hard work, says Cora. It felt good to get it out, she adds, “but I’m still pretty sad to be locked in the house.”
It helped that her mom is a certified trauma service specialist who has helped people across North America deal with death and grieving for the past 20 years.
Christine’s first book was for children, titled “Where’s Robert?” It’s about a young girl dealing with the death of an older brother, and it sprang from her own loss as a teenager.
She has written several more since, for children and adults, about dealing with loss in a healthy way.
“It’s a goal I’ve had my whole life. If we stand up and share what we’re going through, we all heal,” she says.
“And our children are watching, and there’s nothing wrong with saying this is really, really hard.”
“Cora and the Corona” is about a little girl scared by what she hears about the spread of the coronavirus, and grieving in her own way the fact she can’t see her friend, Allorah.
She makes some musical instruments from items in the recycling bin, and soon finds a way to communicate with neighbours while maintaining a safe distance.
The characters — Allorah, the neighbours’ Great Danes and her own dog Gizzy — are all real, taken from Cora’s life.
“I read it and I thought, this is really good,” says Christine.
“So I said, let’s take it one step further. And we sat together and we wrote the story (with her other daughter, Chelsea). I thought it would be cathartic for her, and I said we’ll share it with Allorah, your friend.”
She used her contacts at her business, Robert’s Press, to get it illustrated by Douglas Smith and Alex Potapczyk in Niagara Falls.
Artista Design and Print, in Niagara Falls, and Purolator and UPS helped with printing and shipping.
Originally, she planned for every book sold she would donate one to mental health essential services. But when agencies in Canada and the United States asked for copies, she ended up sending out 3,000-plus copies for free.
A downloadable version is posted to Niagara Catholic District School Board’s learning at home resources page on its website.
They’re still available for sale on the Robert’s Press website, for $9.95 which includes shipping.
“She said to me yesterday, ‘This is great. I actually have the ability to help people,’ ” says Christine.
Cora is undecided whether she’ll try to write another book.
“If I get let out, then I’ll probably have better stuff to do,” she says. “But if I get locked in the house another 2,200 days I probably will.”