Students Create Safe Driving Children's Book
By: Sophie Nielsen-Kolding WMBD/WYZZ-TV
Updated: February 7, 2013
MINONK- Students at Fieldcrest High School in Minonk are taking action against distracted driving in the form of an original children's book.
The students are part of a group that promotes safe driving year-round. Emily Yunker helped out with the artwork, she says her aunt came up with the idea for the design.
"We did a bunch of cutouts so that all of our backgrounds match," Yunker said.
The book is about how a little brother reminds his big sister about being safe on the road.
Danielle Goodrich wrote the story, "In this scene Carter's telling his teacher about bucking up his seat belt," she said.
Goodrich said she pulled inspiration from her own car rides with her little sister.
"When we get in the car the first thing she says is buckle up everybody," Goodrich said.
They built the story, page by page, matching up all the different cut outs. Then they took a picture of each page and that's what they'll use in the final version. It's an idea they've been working on for months.
"It all got photographed and we saw the book all put together, it was just really awesome to see that," Yunker said.
About 1,000 copies of the book are being printed, and the high school students will hand them out to area schools. They say the book is targeted at first though fourth graders.
"I just want to be able to reach out. I want every little kid to remind their brother or sister or their parents to be safe on the road and just for even adults to look over this book and say, if little kids can remember this, we can remember this," Goodrich said.
Adviser Sheila Healy said she's proud of her students for seeing the project through, and for the people who have taken notice.
"I think one of the most exciting things is we really wanted to get some positive endorsements and we received a positive endorsement from Jessie White and last Friday we we got a positive endorsement from Ray LaHood," Healy said.
Those letters are printed proudly on the last two pages of the book.
The students have a book tour on February 20th. That's when they'll hand out copies to younger grades. For details on how you can get a hold of a copy, visit the groups website.
