Inspired by a student’s Hug, Principal on Chicago’s South Side Pens Children’s Book About Returning to School During COVID-19

 

Claire Hao

 

One of Vanessa Williams Johnson’s students tried to hug her while picking up a homework packet in April. The innocent gesture, innocuous any other year, made the South Side principal realize educators would be fighting an uphill battle in helping their students cope with the new realities of the pandemic.

 

“When he saw me, he broke out into a run towards me,” Williams Johnson said. “It was like an avalanche coming, like ‘Wait, wait, wait, we’re not touching, we’re not hugging.’ The mom couldn’t stop him. He just wanted to come and get a hug from his principal.”

 

“I realized at the time that we’re really going to have to do something when it comes time for our students to come back to school after being away from us so long,” Williams Johnson said.

 

For Williams Johnson, one of those things turned out to be writing a children’s book for the first time. On top of transitioning W.E.B. Du Bois Elementary School to remote learning last spring, Williams Johnson wrote “No Hugs, No Bugs,” a picture book that tells the story of a group of puppies on their first day back to school during COVID-19.

 

The book launched Aug. 1 through Amazon Publishing and has sold 300 copies so far, Williams Johnson said. Illustrated by her niece, Aliyah Johnson, it depicts the puppies following public health guidelines such as getting their temperatures checked, washing their hands and social distancing on the carpet during story time.

 

Aliyah Johnson, a student at Virginia Union University, aspires to be a professional illustrator. She said the book was her biggest project so far, with each page taking her 30 minutes to an hour to draw.

 

It was her idea to use animals to help kids understand the pandemic in a fun, interactive way.

 

“Kids relate to animals, and they’re universal. There’s no discrimination between animals,” she said.

 

When she wrote the book in April, Williams Johnson thought Chicago Public Schools would open this fall. She envisioned that educators could read the book to young students on the first day of school.

 

“It’s usually a really big deal, because every primary teacher is preparing and planning for their first day of school read-aloud to their students,” Williams Johnson said. “It’s the story that either ties into the themes of the year or sets up the expectations for the community.”

 

But with the coronavirus situation worsening in Illinois and around the country, Williams Johnson said safety must come first. Still, she hopes parents will find the book useful “to help their children go out into the world and feel OK.”

 

As an educator devoted to social-emotional learning, Williams Johnson said helping her students feel OK has been her mission throughout the pandemic. She worked with teachers to re-envision their curriculum, particularly for younger children who are used to sharing, group activities and cooperative learning.

 

Du Bois Elementary handed out technology and helped set up internet access for families, many of whom were not used to having devices at home. Because her school is located in a food desert, Williams Johnson also spearheaded food distribution through her school for families struggling with food insecurity.

 

She even resolved conflicts between students on the playground, because “having the school’s playground as a place of relief for students? That’s it. That’s all they have.”

 

Then, there was the student whose situation broke her heart. One eighth grader logged onto school every day, only for his teachers to learn later that he had been home alone because his mom was in the hospital with COVID-19.

 

“To know that a kid wanted to make sure he graduated, so he pushed his feelings aside to make sure he stayed on track while his mom was intubated for about three weeks?” Williams Johnson said. “That was unreal to me.”

 

And the “gravity of knowing you’re in a position to have to protect” students also took a toll on her.

 

“It was like the train never stopped. It was overload,” Williams Johnson said. “But you’re mentally having to pull yourself out of it because you’re the person who’s going to help them. That was a mental heaviness, so I really had to make a decision on where I could be of service.”

 

Williams Johnson said she thought of front-line workers for inspiration: “I can take care of my role with the school. I don’t know if I can do what the doctors did, or the nurses did, but I can do that.”

 

She said this service-oriented mindset was how she made the mental space to write her book. She would work on the book at night, which became a way for her to “spiritually center” herself.

 

“You almost felt defeated, because there was so much uncertainty. But as educators, that’s what we do. In the face of challenges, we rise,” Williams Johnson said.

 

Now that the book is published, Williams Johnson said readers from across the country and Canada have reached out. “Some have said, ‘Will there be more adventures for Wag-a-Doodle Elementary School?’ I don’t know, I had not thought that far,” she said with a laugh.

 

Like many of the projects she’s had to oversee, Williams Johnson “didn’t even go into 2020 thinking about publishing a book.” But with this endeavor, she said she’s “finally doing something that is me.”

 

“Before I started this, before COVID, I had no time for myself when it comes to my creative side,” she said.

 

For others with the means to do so, Williams Johnson said she’s “hoping even through COVID… if you had plans to try something different or do something new, this is absolutely the time to do it. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.”