Kourageous Kids Storybooks’ Young Heroes

Heroes and heroines come in all shapes and sizes. Folk heroes and heroines, unlike their mythical counterparts, are every day people who exhibit extraordinary talents, skills, and strengths. We admire them because they show us how to live our lives despite unsavory and uncontrollable circumstances and we adore them because they don’t even know they are folk heroes and heroines.

For the indie writing/art duo of Matthew and Danielle Drake, children with cancer and/or terminal illness are folk heroes and heroines. The team has found a great way to celebrate the heroic efforts of these children with their one-of-a-kind Kourageous Kids Storybooks. The picture (photograph) books take these brave kids on heroic journeys where they call up a deep reserve of inner strength, faith, wisdom, and sometimes whimsy to overcome challenges. Through this they save the world and they save themselves.

I invited the Kourageous Kids Storybooks’ founders to write this guest blog for two reasons: 1) I want you to know what they are doing to honor children whose timeline of hope is finite, and 2) I want to encourage you to support them in any way possible. Tell others about these free-to-the-family customized books and/or consider making a financial contribution to help offset the cost of preparing and producing even one single book.

What We Do:

We write books tailor-made for kids with terminal illnesses and cancer and we do so at no cost to their families. We also illustrate, print and ship the books. In each book the child is the main character who goes on a 'normal' adventure where he or she can be the hero/heroine.

Our picture books for children and their siblings depict them as the heroes and heroines they really are. Whether they are braving the pouring rain, or being part of a heroic Search and Rescue team, or learning sign language to befriend a lonely girl, our stories carry messages of strength, love, compassion and courage. To personalize the messages, the main characters’ names are those of the children who are living with and fighting their diseases. Included in the short stories are these brave youngsters’ favorite foods, their dreams and their aspirations.

Why We Do It:

46/7. 46 kids, 7 days a week, are told they have cancer. We don’t know a collective 46 children, and we have three of my own! It is a staggering, terrifying thought. One thing we do know is this: these kids need hope, courage, and smiles. They need to be reminded they can fight.

How We Got Started:

A friend’s son was undergoing surgery. So we wrote him a story. His mom is a personal friend of ours, so we asked what he likes most. She said, “‘zombies and science”. So we made him a hero who saved the world from zombies by squirting them with apple juice.

In the story he figures out they became zombies due to a lack of malic acid (apple juice has an abundance of malic acid).

His mother was impressed. We decided this would be a wonderful idea for all sick kids who need hope, courage, and a reminder that they are heroes!

Our Goal:

Our goal is to bring hope, joy and laughter to children fighting cancer and other terminal illnesses.. We want to give the children an opportunity to live through the stories we create for them.

Hope is precious. Let’s share it.

FolkHeart Press already has plans to donate a percentage of proceeds from Kourageous Kids Storybooks website sales of the soon-t0-be-released Black Pepper Visions: Original Folk Tales & Stories You Can Eat. Let us know how you decide to help and we'll share that with others!