Why(r)us the Virus is a children’s book by Kathleen Finnegan. It was written to help her preschool age grandchildren better understand the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic Safer At Home recommendations.
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Kathleen Finnegan, mother of four, is a former Air Force Test Engineer who has lived in Leesburg Virginia for over 20 years. She worked at Loudoun County Public Schools for the Public Information and Administrative Information Technology (IT) Offices, staffed Dodona Manor during its renovation, and retired from the Town of Leesburg IT office in 2018.
In 2019, when travel restrictions for the pandemic were put into place, she could no longer make the 2.5 hour drive to visit with her grandchildren, so she began reading to them over the Internet once a week. The children had many questions about why she couldn’t visit, why they couldn’t go to preschool, why Dad was working from home. After a fruitless search for an age appropriate book to read to them about the pandemic that would explain without scaring them, she decided she would just write one and read it to them. She read it to them each week, changing some things based on their questions and reactions and also to make it more fun to read out loud. She added a song because they like to sing and added little hidden items on each illustrated page for them to find as she read. One day her grandson asked she really thought the virus would ever go away. Kathleen wanted the children to know that there were many people working to end the pandemic and help people get better, so she added a page for the farmers and healthcare workers and scientists who were working so hard. She probably should have added in the delivery people too, who were certainly working hard at HER house!
The book’s title changed from it’s original “Why Us?” to “Why(r)us the Virus” as it’s purpose evolved from just explaining why they couldn’t be together to what they could do to help each other stay well. The children loved the story, and her grandson sang the song as he was in the car waiting for his first COVID test. The children raced to pick dandelion flowers on their walks so that they could make a “wish the Why(r)us would go away” wish. It seemed to be helping them adjust. Kathleen decided to publish the book in case there were others like herself who had been looking for a tool like this, but she really didn’t want to make money off of a pandemic, so she decided to donate the proceeds to Mobile Hope of Loudoun, a nonprofit that helps the homeless children of Loudoun County, Virginia where she had been volunteering.
Kathleen’s husband Michael served in the Air Force for 26 years, and many of their years together were spent overseas. As the information on the book went out to their friends and family, Kathleen’s friend Angie offered to translate the book into German, which then led to the translations in French (by Sophie) and Spanish (by Andrea), both of whom had also been stationed with their husbands in Europe at the same time as Kathleen and Michael.
Simultaneously, the teachers and scientists in the family were preparing a professionally structured “Whyrus Week” lesson plan for educators of preschoolers that is offered free of charge on this website. The lesson plan reinforces hand washing and face mask wearing, and pulls together numerous possible fun activities that have been shared on the Internet (with attribution) as well as introducing some that are Why(r)us-centric. The activities, coloring pages and other downloadable items can be used to open up the conversation with young children should you be looking for a simple way to provide them with hope and reassurance.
The book can be checked out from the Loudoun County Public Library or purchased from most online bookstores. If you have difficulty finding it, try searching for it by author name.