How do you teach kids about cancer? How do you teach kids about cancer? (December 02, 2005)

High school students create children's book and raise nearly $3,000 for pediatric cancer research
by Rebecca Guyon

It's not every day that schoolwork inspires students to make a difference, but that is exactly what happened to Amador Valley High School senior Jennifer Kim. When she was a junior, she was assigned to do a project on a disease for her anatomy class. Through this project, Jennifer learned details about how cancer affects the body and was shocked to learn how many people develop the disease. Having just lost her grandmother to stomach cancer, she knew the emotional impact cancer has on people and families, but had no idea just how many people were affected.

"Once I heard the statistics about how many people develop cancer, I wanted to do something," Jennifer said.

Remembering how confused she was when her grandmother first developed the disease, she decided to write, illustrate and publish a children's book to teach children about cancer and then sell it to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. Writing a book is not an easy feat for anyone, but it was especially daunting for Jennifer who just moved to the United States from South Korea nearly three years ago and speaks English as a second language. Still, she was not afraid of the challenge and not only completed the book, but also sold enough to raise $2,820, all of which was donated to the American Cancer Society and will go toward research for pediatric cancer.

The book, titled "Where Is the Red Dragon's Egg?" tells the story of a little girl who accidentally swallows an egg called "cancer" and follows her on her journey to have the egg removed. The story is told like a fairy tale and is filled with facts about cancer, presented in a way that children can understand. Once Jennifer finished creating the book, she had 1,000 copies published and called her friend Naomi Yoo, also a senior at Amador, to help with the marketing and selling.

The girls sold the book at different shops around Pleasanton and held a special reading for children at Pure Girls on Main Street. Reading the book to children was especially rewarding, Naomi said.

"I was impressed at the questions the kids asked," she said. "One girl even donated some of her own money. I was really touched, and glad to see that they understood the message."

The reading was also a highlight for Jennifer's mother, Myung Hee Knight, who said it made her very proud to see how confident her daughter was reading to the children and to see the effect the book had on them.

Jennifer even took copies of the book with her when she visited South Korea and sold some there with the help of one of her father's friends.

"In Korea, people were at first surprised by the book," she said. "But once I explained what I was doing, they were willing to help." This was the American Cancer Society's first fundraiser to include activities in Korea, said Edy Coleman, director of community services in Alameda County for the American Cancer Society.

"Our organization is made up of volunteers like you two," Coleman told Jennifer and Naomi when they delivered their donation to the American Cancer Society's office in Dublin.

While there, Coleman also asked the two students if they would be interested in being part of the Tri-Valley Youth Council that the organization is in the process of starting. They are looking for students to lead chapters of cancer awareness clubs at each school in the Tri-Valley and currently do not have anyone at Amador. Both girls said they would be interested in helping as much as they can before they graduate and possibly starting chapters at the colleges they attend next year.

"This started as a side project, but now it is something that I hope to carry on," Jennifer said.

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